More Parties Press NTIA to Seek Improved Broadband Data Accuracy, Granularity, Mapping

"The FCC considers a census block 'served' if a single residence in the block has access to broadband," said the Western Governors' Association. "This reporting protocol overstates broadband availability in larger, rural census blocks common in western states. WGA is also concerned that the use of 'maximum advertised,' not 'actual,' speeds when mapping broadband coverage does not accurately portray the service that customers receive." The "available speed of a provider's service can vary within a Census block," said the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. "A provider often submits the highest speed it can provide in the block. In the case of DSL broadband service, the actual speed available is distance-sensitive and can fall off significantly within a large Census block in a rural area."

Four New York Republican congressmen are "gravely concerned" Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in January "claimed 100% internet coverage" there. Reps Chris Collins, Elise Stefanik, Claudia Tenney and John Faso said they represent constituencies that are either unserved or underserved. "Many of our local municipalities have paid to have mapping done and already have factual and accurate data," they wrote. "We ask that these local governments are consulted as NTIA moves forward in mapping broadband access. There is no one better to tell the federal government where service is lacking than those closest to the problem." Cuomo's office didn't comment.

"A more accurate and granular national broadband map is needed to help guide policymakers in prioritizing their connectivity efforts, said Pew Charitable Trusts. Better data on service availability would help "to ensure that government efforts to support broadband deployment in unserved areas of rural America target resources as efficiently as possible," said the National Association of Towns and Townships. Such data needs to be "collected directly from the service providers," supplemented by "third-party datasets, public feedback and in-field audits, said Connected Nation. The California Public Utilities Commission "supports requiring collection of broadband deployment (availability) data at a more granular geographic level, thus increasing the usefulness of From 477 data." Collecting broadband data "at the address level would be far more informative, but it would still need to be geo-coded," the CPUC said.

"Evaluate mobile broadband coverage data as well as fixed wireless and wireline broadband data," said the Competitive Carriers Association. Deere said mobile broadband is "critical to support modern agriculture." CTIA said the FCC should use data from Form 477, Mobility Fund Phase II data collection and a funding eligibility map, and third-party commercial data sets: "These datasets paint a robust picture of where mobile broadband is presently available (and where it is not) and at what speeds." But CCA said NTIA "must consider lessons learned from mobile coverage data collection and use from the [MF II] program one-time data collection. ... Technological parameters selected by the FCC were not sufficient to produce a map that reflects" actual coverage, it said, urging future parameter standardization.

Several offered to help NTIA with data solutions and analysis, with Microsoft citing its "visualization and analytic tools." Others included Ookla, Michigan State University's Quello Center and the Merit Network (here), and Speedchecker, which cited crowdsourced internet measurement data.