I was looking through the FCC cellular map in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where I live. For those not fully familiar with the FCC broadband maps, the agency publishes two maps: the more familiar one that shows broadband coverage and a second that shows cellular coverage. You can toggle between the two maps at the FCC’s map website.
It struck me while looking at the details in the maps that rural cellular coverage is changing, and not in a good way. I started by looking at a small section of the county that is on the outer fringe of where the Asheville outer suburbs turn rural. According to the FCC cellular map, the area I selected has the following cellular coverage:
These two tables tell me the following:
- AT&T and Verizon have some 4G coverage. But the Verizon coverage is likely very weak since they don’t claim it will work in a moving vehicle. While AT&T claims its 4G coverage will work in a moving vehicle, it’s curious that AT&T doesn’t have 5G. This tells me that the AT&T signal is also likely weak since it is outside the 5G coverage area.
- The only carrier claiming relatively solid 5G (35/3 Mbps) is Project Genesis, which is EchoStar. The company has exited the facility-based cellular business and is in the process of dismantling cell sites.
- T-Mobile claims both 4G and 5G for outdoor cellular coverage, but doesn’t claim it can work in a moving vehicle, meaning the coverage is also probably weak.
- The last carrier listed is UScellular, which claims 7/1 speeds on 5G, but doesn’t claim to be able to provide coverage in vehicles. UScellular was purchased by T-Mobile, and the rumor is that any UScellular towers that already duplicate T-Mobile coverage are likely to be decommissioned.
The bottom line is that this particular neighborhood has weak cell coverage. The only carrier that claimed to be able to deliver 5G to a moving vehicle is now out of business.
I picked this neighborhood at random, but I think I would find the same story in most of the areas on the fringe of the metropolitan area. The coverage in areas that are completely rural is worse. The story I gleaned from this neighborhood is troublesome for several reasons.
- The folks who live here don’t have a lot of options. The only carrier that might work in the way people need cellular to work is AT&T, but this neighborhood is outside the AT&T 5G coverage, and the 4G coverage is likely weak.
- It looks like decent coverage was finally becoming available from EchoStar, but that’s now gone.
- The speeds shown in the table are for outdoor coverage, and speeds inside homes are typically half of outdoor speeds.
- When you look at the details in the FCC cellular map you quickly understand how the advertised national footprints of the big carriers are exaggerated.
- The bad news is that the FCC considers this neighborhood to be served by cellular. That means if the FCC finally launches the 5G Fund for Rural America, this neighborhood will not be considered for funding to add a new cell tower.
What the FCC map completely misses is strategicly unavailable broadband. Essentially ‘fraud’ in not claiming coverage in order to get funding for those areas.
If you zoom out just enough on these maps you can see clear patterns of omission that line up with funding areas. Intersting how one side of a street has FWA avaialility but the other side of a street doesn’t.
What those of us in the industry have been seeing and saying for years now is that this is just huge fraud and the broadband maps are exacerbating that fraud because companies under-report and use the map as evidence that government funds need to be awarded.
https://www.fierce-network.com/broadband/californias-middle-mile-network-officially-welcomes-first-customer
This is a great real-world example of the persistent disconnect between modeled cellular coverage and actual user experience in rural areas. As you highlight, propagation modeling that feeds FCC mobile maps often cannot fully account for terrain, foliage, device variability, and the difference between theoretical coverage and reliable, usable service. In many rural areas, “covered” frequently does not mean a dependable voice call or usable data connection.
This is exactly the problem YOWIE Patrol (Yes, Outstanding Wireless Is Essential) is working to address. Our focus is collecting ground-truth, location-verified performance data from everyday users to document where networks perform well, where they struggle, and importantly, where there is no service at all — a major blind spot in many testing approaches that require connectivity to even start a test. Anyone interested in contributing data can use our free Speed Check tool here: https://yowiepatrol.org
We are also actively partnering with carriers, local and state governments, regional planning groups, and public safety organizations interested in mapping real cellular performance in specific regions. The goal is not to criticize networks, but to help provide better data that supports smarter infrastructure decisions, more accurate FCC mapping, and ultimately better rural connectivity outcomes. Your example reinforces why real-world measurement is essential if we want to close the rural wireless gap.
Rob Blish – Rob@yowiepatrol.org