FCC Maps the 3G Wasteland Of the Western US 173
alphadogg writes "The Federal Communications Commission has released a map showing which counties across the U.S. lacked coverage from either 3G or 4G networks and found that wide swaths of the western half of the country were 3G wastelands, particularly in mountainous states such as Idaho and Nevada. This isn't particularly surprising since it's much more difficult for carriers to afford building out mobile data networks in sparsely populated mountainous regions, but it does underscore how large stretches of the United States lack access to mobile data services that people in the Northeast, South and Midwest now take for granted."
Direct Map Link (Score:5, Informative)
Link to the map, rather than using the tiny iframe in the article.
http://a.tiles.mapbox.com/v1/fcc.mobility-fund-phase-1-potentially-eligible-areas-oct-2011-data/mm/legend,zoompan,tooltips,zoomwheel,zoombox,attribution,bwdetect,share.html#0/0/0 [mapbox.com]
Link to the map (Score:4, Informative)
http://tiles.mapbox.com/fcc/map/mobility-fund-phase-1-potentially-eligible-areas [mapbox.com]
Re:Where's the map? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Gee... (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, because farmers don't need to call 911 for help in an emergency, call the local food co-op to check this week's prices, order new seed from a supplier's web site, or e-mail the mechanic to get an ETA as to when the tractor will be fixed. And we certainly don't want the farmer's kids getting a decent education via distance learning web sites, or talking to their friends in nearby cities.
Putting cell towers in those areas is not profitable, but it is necessary. I say this as an Australian - for over a decade the commercial carriers did squat to wire up the country-side. The Australian government had to create its own carrier from scratch because the free market just didn't care about the 95% of the country where "nobody really lives there". Oh, except for the people who do.
Re:Gee... (Score:4, Informative)
The article doesn't say cellular voice coverage isn't available there - it says cellular data coverage isn't there. The aren't the same thing, not even close. Not to mention, the lack of cellular data coverage isn't the same thing as lack of internet access.
Re:If you compare maps.... (Score:2, Informative)
Exactly. The FCC basically owns the waves that it's letting telecom use. They don't have to let them use that spectrum.
Fine. Lets take your position. Yank those licenses.
Now what?
Find someone else who has the millions to buy the spectrum, the billions to build a network. Wait 10 years while the build it.
Wait 3 years for them to go broke because NOBODY LIVES THERE!!!
Then what? What have you accomplished?
The map is for 3G and 4G.
Ya know, you can still make phone calls in most of those areas. Probably your porn comes in a little slower over EDGE,
and you can probably finish by hand faster than you will get it over GPRS, but there is still phone sex on your camping
trip in the vast majority of those ares.
Huge swaths of Nevada are all black on the map. You can still make calls. A few places the road runs thru valleys and
your phone says Emergency Calls Only. The State of Nevada has 911 towers out there.
Re:If you compare maps.... (Score:4, Informative)
You would be surprised to find that many of the areas that the telecoms claim to service with dsl, are not in fact, actually servicable by dsl.
Take for instace: a quaint little town just outside wichita. "Peck Ks".
Recently pushed into prominence by being about 10 miles from a newly built casino. (Northstar.) This town doesn't even have a gas station. It has crappy 1950s federally mandated telephone and powerlines that are unreliable. Residents have to use on-air televison, or satelite.
Internet is either horrible dialup at 28.8 speeds on a good day, with continual disconnects from the shitty lines, or, 50$/mo (w/o bundling) satelite, with data caps, or 2g verizon coverage.
I know, because my mother lives there.
Oh, ATT claims that dsl is available... until you actually call
and ask.
It is that way over most of the state, in fact.