Submitted via IRC for chromas
'These maps are bogus': U.S. lawmakers tear into telecom execs over spotty rural coverage
Members of Congress are fed up with the state of cellphone coverage in the United States, and on Wednesday, they weren't afraid to lodge their complaints personally — with the leaders of some of the country's biggest wireless networks.
As Sprint and T-Mobile went to Capitol Hill to defend their $26 billion proposed merger, lawmakers buttonholed T-Mobile's chief executive, John Legere, and Sprint's executive chairman, Marcelo Claure, on the frustrating inability to get a cell signal in many parts of the country, particularly in rural areas.
Waving a coverage map of his state in the middle of a congressional hearing, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said that despite flashy promises to build a dazzling 5G network, wireless carriers can scarcely manage to serve Vermont with regular 4G LTE. "In a lot of Vermont, we have no-G," said Welch. "These maps are bogus."
When Claure tried to shift the blame to AT&T and Verizon, saying Sprint's network often relies on those companies' infrastructure in many areas, Welch interrupted. "These are no good! These are phony maps!" he bellowed.
Can you hear me now?
Related Stories
AT&T, T-Mobile fight speed tests that could prove their coverage maps wrong;:
The carriers' objections came in response to the FCC seeking comment on a plan to improve the nation's inadequate broadband maps. Besides submitting more accurate coverage maps, the FCC plan would require carriers to do a statistically significant amount of drive testing.
"In order to help verify the accuracy of mobile providers' submitted coverage maps, we propose that carriers submit evidence of network performance based on a sample of on-the-ground tests that is statistically appropriate for the area tested," the FCC proposal issued in July 2020 said.
This could prevent repeats of cases in which carriers exaggerated their coverage in FCC filings, which can result in government broadband funding not going to the areas where it is needed most. Small carriers that compete against the big three in rural areas previously had to conduct drive tests at their own expense in order to prove that the large carriers didn't serve the areas they claimed to serve.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai did not punish Verizon, T-Mobile, and US Cellular after finding that the carriers exaggerated their 4G coverage in official filings. But Pai is moving ahead with plans to require more accurate maps as mandated by Congress.
Previously:
(2019-12-05) FCC Says Wireless Carriers Lie about Coverage 40% of the Time
(2019-11-23) Verizon's New 5G Coverage Maps Show Just How Sparse the Network Is
(2019-02-17) "These Maps are Bogus": U.S. Lawmakers Tear Into Telecom Execs Over Spotty Rural Coverage
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Gaaark on Sunday February 17 2019, @07:40PM (1 child)
Duppity-dupe-dupe.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 17 2019, @08:54PM
If you mean these stories, they aren't dupes.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/01/26/0215247 [soylentnews.org]
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/01/18/0138207 [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by stretch611 on Sunday February 17 2019, @08:04PM (4 children)
I'm sure that the CEOs will do everything they can to get it approved this time.
Even if it means sleeping in sub-standard hotel accommodations:
T-Mobile announced a merger needing Trump administration approval. The next day, 9 executives had reservations at Trump’s hotel. [washingtonpost.com]
Of course the CEO, John Legere has thought differently of Trump Hotels in the past [cnet.com]:
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Monday February 18 2019, @12:09AM
He deleted those nasty nasty Tweets. Or possibly, the Twitter Administration deleted them (I would). But he didn't delete his Account. It's not too late, John!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @12:21AM (2 children)
Legere mocked the hotel for having everything labeled "Trump"
Even the bed bugs?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @12:26AM (1 child)
I meant the Russian mobile listening devices.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @12:38AM
Even the stains on the mattresses have "Made in Trump" on them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @10:10PM (2 children)
I guess a lot of those Members of Congress have a nice and secluded estate in a rural area with bad coverage.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday February 17 2019, @11:04PM
More likely, certain odd locations around the country, remarkably close to properties owned by goverment types, have cell towers quite nearby..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @12:19AM
If you're around Washington DC, you don't have to go very far to find places where the only available cellphone coverage is Verizon Wireless. If that. No AT&T, no Sprint, in suburbs of Annapolis MD.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @11:49PM
i cannot hear you now, i'm at sprint
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday February 18 2019, @02:37AM (1 child)
The execs are all in shock. "But, I though congress was all our bitches! They've been giving us all the money we ask for, for decades now! Did those silly bitches REALLY think we were building infrastructure? THAT'S WHAT THEY REALLY THOUGHT?!?!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @06:59AM
Tmo will be the whipping boy, because they are foreign-owned.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday February 18 2019, @03:31AM
Now, *Let's see what happens*
Really, this drama could hardly be more contrived.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..