Written by Christine Parker
See the interactive resource, United State(s) of Broadband Map, here.
View and download an HTML version of the map here. To view, open it in any web browser.
Updates can be shared with Christine Parker at christine@ilsr.org.
*If at any point the HTML file stops working, it's because the map has been updated. Just return to this story or that dropbox folder and redownload the file at the link above.
Tens of billions of dollars in federal funding are poised for new broadband infrastructure deployment over the next five years. But a crucial step in allocating funds from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program - for states and local governments - lies in knowing where fast, affordable, reliable broadband access currently is, so that they know where to drive new investment. The FCC’s historical and repeated failure to put together an accurate national broadband map threatens to significantly hold up the process.
Localities and states have learned that they cannot trust big monopolies or the federal government to get this right. For years, it has ignored the problem or claimed it doesn’t have the funds to solve it. Its data updates (we’re still waiting on the December 2021 drop, and it’s April) are slow, and there’s no doubt among industry experts that even with a new process in place - initiated in the spring 2020 - it too is fraught with complications. Even under the best-case scenario, we’re not likely to see better maps for at least a year to come.
Unfortunately, we don’t know how the process will shake out quite yet. The new FCC maps...
Read more