Is Verizon misleading the government on All Out with AJ Raval (2025)just how much of rural America is covered by its 4G LTE network?
According to a group of rural carriers the answer is yes. And, according to these smaller carriers, Verizon’s deceptive claims are blocking their ability to serve these uncovered rural areas.
The Rural Wireless Association (RWA), a trade group, has sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission requesting an official investigation into whether Verizon’s LTE network covers as much of rural America as the telecommunications giant says it does.
SEE ALSO: FCC claims of DDoS net neutrality attack were 'bogus'Last year, the FCC required mobile carriers like Verizon to submit reports to the Commission regarding the extent of their current 4G LTE areas of coverage. The FCC would use the data submitted to help determine where exactly it would need to distribute Mobility Fund money -- funds specifically marked for areas (mostly rural ones) that lack 4G LTE coverage. Over the next decade, the FCC plans to distributed up to $4.53 billion via the Mobility Fund.
In its request, the RWA accuses Verizon of providing the FCC with a “sham coverage map”:
Verizon should not be allowed to abuse the FCC challenge process by filing a sham coverage map as a means of interfering with the ability of rural carriers to continue to receive universal service support in rural areas.
An engineering firm hired by Panhandle Telephone Cooperative, Inc. tested Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage claims in the Oklahoma Panhandle, an area Verizon’s map contends to almost completely cover. According to the RWA, the researchers discovered that the coverage area in the Oklahoma Panhandle turned out to be “not even half of the LTE coverage area Verizon publicly claims to serve.”
In its letter to the FCC, the RWA states that the one such test to verify Verizon’s coverage claims, like the one conducted in the Oklahoma Panhandle for example, costs “close to $1 million.” Such costs can be prohibitive for smaller carriers, so the RWA is asking the FCC to take over and launch an investigation.
The FCC has not yet responded to the complaint. Verizon, however, has disputed the claims in an FCC filing of its own.
In a statement provided to Mashable, a Verizon spokesperson says that while "no model is perfect" when it comes to coverage mapping, "the Mobility Fund coverage map that Verizon filed in January follows the FCC’s mapping rules and industry best practices for modeling." The statement refers to the millions of dollars Verizon has spent over the past five years on its "sophisticated model." In addition, Verizon says the RWA should file a formal challenge to the model if it disputes the map.
Verizon has a mixed history when it comes to servicing rural customers. Just last year, the company kicked 8,500 rural customers off its network for using too much roaming data -- data that goes through many of those same local rural carriers who partner with Verizon for service outside the company's coverage zones.
Topics FCC Verizon
Tencent renames its Nintendo Switch store, removing “official” wording · TechNodeThe planet's climate scorched in the first 3 months of 2020There's officially a snake named after Salazar Slytherin nowAnt Group plans acquisition of Dutch payments firm MultiSafepay · TechNodeMeituan’s KeeTa becomes the secondWhat it's like to hike during the coronavirus pandemic as trails openCoronavirus face masks show Earth's grim warming trendGmail gets big Gemini update: 3 new AI features, including 'CliffsNotes' for your inboxCoronavirus face masks show Earth's grim warming trendGemini Nano can detect scam calls for youWhy 'murder hornet' is a terrible nameHuawei to launch HarmonyOS on PCs next year · TechNodeOat milk vs. Almond milk: Which is better in a latte?Baidu terminates $3.6 billion deal to acquire YY Live · TechNodeHow to get GPTWhat Apple's acquisition of Dark Sky means for Android usersGemini Nano can detect scam calls for youJane Fonda joined TikTok and announced the launch of virtual Fire Drill Friday climate ralliesJaguar Land Rover’s partner Chery planning entry into UK in 2024 · TechNodeChina’s Baidu announces that 100 million users have used its AI chatbot · TechNode In the Nineties, Race Didn’t Exist Staff Picks: Dubbing and Pill Popping by The Paris Review Staff Picks: Film Forum, Fallout Shelters, and Fermentation Cooking With Buchi Emecheta Staff Picks: Portraiture, Patriarchy, Public Works Writers’ Fridges: Olivia Laing Writers’ Fridges: Walter Mosley The Surprising History (and Future) of Dinosaurs by Chantel Tattoli The Treasures That Prevail: On the Prose of Adrienne Rich by Sandra M. Gilbert Staff Picks: Bald Heads, Baldwin, and Bruce LaBruce by The Paris Review America Doesn’t Have to Be Like This Subverting the Chinese Immigrant Story by Vanessa Hua Does Bad Romance Lead to Great Art? by Cody Delistraty Poetry Rx: Poor Deluded Human, You Seek My Heart Holy Disobedience: On Jean Genet’s ‘The Thief’s Journal’ Redux: The Wind Flakes Gold My Withered Legs by Sandra Gail Lambert Obligatory Readings by Alejandro Zambra A Tour of Diane Williams's Art Collection by Zach Davidson, Madelaine Lucas and Liza St. James We Are the Subject: Diane Arbus, Rosalind Fox Solomon, and Lisette Model by Yevgeniya Traps
2.487s , 8222.328125 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【All Out with AJ Raval (2025)】,Inspiration Information Network