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Huge errors in NTIA map continue after spending $200M. Billions of dollars of Connect America money is being allocated on the basis of a broadband map riddled with errors according to dozens of filings at the FCC. The latest example comes from the official "Broadband Coverage in the Commonwealth of Virginia" report funded by NTIA. 

There were 1,161 citizen-reported dead zones, although many of these zones are within areas where service providers claim that there is wired or wireless broadband coverage. The counties with the most reported dead zones are Pittsylvania, Franklin, Bedford, Stafford, Rappahannock, Loudon, and Fauquier. The analysis found that nearly 36% of the geocoded FCC reported dead zones were located in an area that reportedly had wired broadband access. Additionally, when analyzing the FCC reported dead zones against the reported mobile broadband coverage area, over 86% of dead zones are located in an area that is identified as having broadband access.

In some cases the error is the citizen who reported they couldn't get service even though it is available. But many ot the errors come from carriers reporting they serve areas they don't. In most cases, the carriers have accurate information in their "pre-qualification databases" or are so small they know their coverage area well. Something is rotten in the NTIA mandated system, as I and others have often reported. All of those actually making the maps know much of the problem is inadequate requirements for the telcos to provide data. This was a political decision at the top of NTIA, effectively ensuring the information on who can't get broadband would never be accurate. The Chief of Staff at NTIA, Tom Powers, told the Columbia seminar he couldn't count the unserved closer then +- 30%. 

    Larry Strickling and Anna Gomez at NTIA knows the problem better than I do and politics hold them back.