from the Lies,-Damn-Lies,-and-Statistics dept.
FCC Says Wireless Carriers Lie About Coverage 40% of the Time
A new FCC study confirms what most people already knew: when it comes to wireless coverage maps, your mobile carrier is often lying to you.
If you head to any major wireless carrier website, you'll be inundated with claims of coast to coast, uniform availability of wireless broadband. But, as countless studies have shown, these claims usually have only a tenuous relation to reality, something you've likely noticed if you've ever driving across the country or stopped by mobile carrier forums.
But just how bad is the disconnect? A new FCC study released this week suggests that wireless carriers may be lying about mobile coverage 40 percent of the time or more.
The full study, part of the FCC's efforts to beef up wireless subsidies ahead of fifth-generation (5G) deployments, states that FCC engineers measured real-world network performance across 12 states. Staffers conducted a total of 24,649 tests while driving more than 10,000 miles.
[...] "Only 62.3% of staff drive tests achieved at least the minimum download speed predicted by the coverage maps—with U.S. Cellular achieving that speed in only 45.0% of such tests, T-Mobile in 63.2% of tests, and Verizon in 64.3% of tests," the FCC said.
[...] So why is the Ajit Pai FCC—with a history of cozying up to the whims of major carriers—suddenly changing its tune? As states vie for their slice of billions in looming rural wireless deployment subsidies, Senators have started to get irritated by the fact we don't actually know where wireless is, making it hard to know which areas need the most help.
At an FCC oversight hearing last year, Montana Senator Jon Tester said the FCC's broadband maps "stink," adding that "we've got to kick somebody's ass" and fix the problem.
In short the backlash to the government and industry's dysfunction has become so obvious, even the industry-friendly FCC has acknowledged that something needs to be done about it if taxpayers are going to keep footing the bill.
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: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday December 06 2019, @04:13AM (4 children)
Let's ask what Gomer Pyle thinks about this.....
https://i.imgflip.com/1ymvbd.jpg [imgflip.com]
Yep, agree completely.....
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by rigrig on Friday December 06 2019, @10:06AM (3 children)
The news is not that carriers are lying, it's that the FCC admits it.
My guess would be that "the FCC found that overall coverage sucks so badly that massive subsidies are needed to improve things". But sure, it could just be because of taxpayers complaining enough to make the FCC do it's job.
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday December 06 2019, @12:52PM
" FCC do it's job. "
An oxymoron if I ever saw one!!!
That sentence damned near did a Captain Kirk to my poor computer....Does not compute..does no...phzzzzt!
Seriously though, I think you are likely right in that they are gunning for money. As far as complaints (and I may be wrong here, but waaaay too lazy to check tonight) isn't the FCC the leader in consumer complaints?
Anecdote time!
I know we sure hated "Uncle Charlie" back in high school and my group of malcontents did several letter writing (oh god I'm so fucking old!) campaigns about the requirements for CB licensees that we felt were ridiculous for a consumer product anyone could buy. That the licenses were ridiculously expensive with hugely outrageous fines if you got caught without one just added to our outrage. All of our group paid for our licensees after one of us got caught. IIRC the license was around $25 in 1977 and good for 3 years? The fines were hundreds for getting caught. My old license was KARM3433.
The FCC dropped the requirement, I would like to think we contributed but it was more likely the million plus applications per month in the 1980's that finally made them drop the requirement.
Ah, nostalgia, 101" whip antennas, footwarmers (illegal signal boosters), believing the government was recording every call and FCC triangulation vans were everywhere....paranoia about the government was rampant. While we were paranoid as the tech just wasn't good enough in the 60's - 90's, our concerns were most assuredly not misplaced based upon a modern time when such capabilities do exist. We were just ahead of our time....
https://i.imgur.com/AIgCBOs.png [imgur.com]
Good day to you!
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday December 06 2019, @03:33PM
This will be overridden by other people (aka "corporations are people too!") complaining enough for the FCC's job to be defined differently. Specifically, the FCC's job is to let the corporations get away with anything they want and keep the public from having any effective remedy. Even remedies at the state level.
I explained about sparse 5G coverage in a recent journal entry.
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday December 06 2019, @07:19PM
They tried their hardest to bury it but people caught on. [arstechnica.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Friday December 06 2019, @09:35AM (1 child)
call your congressman.
Oh.
Oh, well
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 06 2019, @12:11PM
Most people just call their congressmen names.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DavePolaschek on Friday December 06 2019, @01:33PM
The forecast for tonight is dark, followed by periods of light tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 06 2019, @08:39PM
Before anyone thinks Pai has turned over a new leaf, Pai also said that none of the carriers are going to get in trouble for lying to Federal regulators.