Wolverton: New broadband map has flaws

The federal government last week finally released a national mapof broadband services, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

It's helpful to be able to see on a map which areas of thecountry and your area can get high-speed cable Internet access. It'salso neat to be able to type in your address or ZIP code and seewhich companies offer wireless Internet access there.

But it's frustrating to see that after two years of work, some ofthe information is incomplete, incorrect or out of date. There'smuch you might like to know that the map and its accompanyingdatabase don't provide, most notably how much broadband servicescost in your area.

Consumer groups and advocates have been clamoring for years forbroadband providers or the government to produce a national mapshowing where high-speed Internet access is and isn't available.Although broadband service has been commercially available for morethan a decade, providers had generally kept that data close to thevest. Consumers have for years now been able to see maps of wirelesscoverage offered by cell phone providers, but haven't been able todo the same with broadband access.

But the stimulus plan pushed through by the Obama administrationallotted money to collect data on broadband access and to producethe map. Dubbed the National Broadband Map, it was produced by theNational Telecommunications and Information Administration, which isa branch of the Department of Commerce, in conjunction with theFederal Communications Commission.

Thanks to the map and website, you can quickly see where to findbroadband providers offering download speeds of 100-megabits persecond or greater. You can also see where Comcast offers service inthe Bay Area and around the country, or which areas in the South Bayhave three or more wired broadband providers.

The database offers other interesting nuggets. For example,according to a report put together by the NTIA from the data on thesite, only about 55 percent those who live in the rural areas ofCalifornia have access to broadband services offering speeds of atleast 3 megabits per second. In urban areas, 94 percent have accessto broadband services with that speed or better.

But some of the data is simply wrong or incomplete. At my house,in addition to Comcast, I could get high-speed access via AT&T's U-verse service, which offers download speeds of up to 24 megabits persecond. While the map site lists AT&T as a broadband provider in myarea, it doesn't list the company among those that offer broadbandspeeds of greater than 3 megabits per second.

Further, even though the map was just launched, it's already outof date. Late last year, Clearwire began offering so-called fixedwireless broadband service in the Bay Area. But if you ask the siteto show you on the map where you can get fixed wireless access, youwon't find any locations in the Bay Area.

Those aren't the only problems. At least on the day it launched,the map was slow to load. The map didn't provide an easy way to zoomin on a particular region and see different data highlighted. And itisn't really interactive.

For example, it will show you visually where you can find serviceproviders who offer access of 50 megabits or greater. But you can'tclick on those areas to see who the provider is or what preciseareas they serve.

Also, you won't find information on pricing. The FederalCommunications Commission has said that one of the biggest factorshindering broadband adoption is price, yet no pricing information isprovided on the site.

On a conference call with journalists, government officials saidthey felt that including pricing information would be misleading.Prices change frequently, especially with promotional offers, andthe NTIA plans to update the map only twice a year.

But non-promotional prices of broadband service don't change allthat often, so providing and updating that kind of informationshouldn't be that big a deal. The fact that the pricing data mightsoon be out of date is an argument for updating the map and itsdatabase more often, not for providing less information.

The map just launched, so it is likely to get better over time.The government is allowing anyone to download and use the databaseand is providing tools to allow other websites to access the map anddata. It also is taking input from consumers to identify errors thatwill be corrected in updates.

Here's hoping that the government regulators follow through onthose revisions and seriously consider updating the site more often.Because the National Broadband Map has the potential to be a veryuseful tool for consumers -- but it's not there yet.

Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-920-5021 ortwolverton@mercurynews.com. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv.