Big ISPs Lobby To Kill Attempts At More Accurate Broadband Mapping
from the it's-not-a-problem-if-you-can't-see-it dept
For years, the FCC's "Form 477" data collection program has required that ISPs provide data on where they provide broadband service. Said data then helps determine the pace of broadband deployment and level of competition in key markets, informing FCC policy and broadband subsidy application. Unfortunately, this data collection process relies heavily on census block data, which doesn't always clarify which specific addresses in these large segments can actually get service. This has proven handy for ISPs looking to obfuscate their refusal to upgrade broadband networks in many areas.
This inaccurate data collection is a major reason for the Kafka-esque experience many new homeonwers have when they're told their new home will have broadband service, only to discover it doesn't. Last August, the then-Tom-Wheeler-run FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (pdf), seeking public input on changing the Form 477 program so it tracked individual addresses, providing a far more accurate picture of U.S. broadband deployment. At the time, the FCC admitted that it historically hasn't done a good job ensuring this data matches reality, aka the "consumer experience":
The Commission to date has not systematically examined the precise underlying methodologies that are used by service providers in generating their data nor has it investigated whether actual consumer experience has diverged substantially from the Form 477 filings. Moreover, providers’ minimum advertised or expected speeds have, to date, been treated as confidential, limiting the ability of policymakers and consumers to compare offerings among service providers from this data collection.
In other words, the FCC was acknowledging that our broadband maps aren't very accurate, and the FCC hasn't done a very good job holding ISPs accountable for dubious availability data or flawed methodology.
Not too surprisingly, large ISPs have come out swinging against the previous FCC's attempts to improve things. In a filing with the FCC (pdf), Verizon tried to argue that more accurate data collection would be an undue burden on the company:
The Commission should reject any proposals that would require fixed broadband providers to report deployment data below the census-block level. Such proposals would impose enormous costs on fixed broadband providers without providing any real benefit to the Commission or the public.
Verizon fails to document the "enormity" of having to do a modestly better job telling the FCC where it provides broadband, or the fact that a painful lack of competition in the sector -- and the inability to determine how extensive the problem is -- helps pad duopolist revenues. Similarly, the NCTA -- the cable industry's biggest lobbying group -- cites ambiguous additional costs in opposing the improved mapping in its own filing (pdf):
...the Commission must ensure that the costs of any new broadband data collection requirements do not outweigh the benefits. With respect to the Form 477, the Commission should avoid collecting data that is so detailed or voluminous that it is expensive for providers to produce, difficult for the Commission to process, or unhelpful to the public.
Of course it's not really the added costs that are worrying these providers. Better mapping means a more accurate picture of where these industry giants have refused to provide service or upgrade last-generation connections. That would be of considerable concern to Verizon, which has been under fire for years for taking taxpayer subsidies in exchange for fiber that never gets delivered, and for outright refusing to upgrade or repair millions of aging DSL lines it clearly no longer wants to service. Less accurate census-block data also makes it easier to obfuscate the overall lack of competition in the U.S. broadband industry.
Given the current FCC's tendency to rubber stamp every whim of incumbent broadband providers, it seems more than likely that Ajit Pai and friends will scuttle this improved mapping effort proposed by the previous FCC. If you have a better understanding of the scope of a problem, you might then ponder actually doing something about it -- and we certainly wouldn't want that.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: broadband, fcc, mapping
Companies: ncta, verizon
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
If the facts get in the way...
Since SpeedTest documented that "...The US ranks sixth in the world in the cost for mobile internet and 46th in mobile internet speed. In other words, people in the US aren't getting what they're paying for. ...", and Akami documents that the US is in 14th place (and dropping) for fixed line speeds, we have to pretend to be best at something... so let's reduce our definition of broadband, use that as the basis to fake out the coverage maps and all will be fine. The more they force off landline and onto mobile, the higher the profits, and the larger the campaign contributions. And that is all that really matters to the companies and their (owned) regulators.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: If the facts get in the way...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: If the facts get in the way...
It's time for them to fix the US broadband market by selling speedtest.net VPN service.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: If the facts get in the way...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: If the facts get in the way...
1 - the ISPs are mostly content providers / creators / distributors and the internet hurts their existing business
2 - there is little incentive (cost / benefit) for companies to fix the last mile.
3 - the costs for new players to come in and install the last mile on a full mandate (non cherry picked) basis is exorbitant and a very low return business
4 - technology is moving fast enough that any investment today must pay off quickly or be lost. Existing physical plants are still being paid off from the last round of upgrades.
5 - all of this could turn out to be meaningless the moment wireless last mile becomes viable and cost effecient
6 - the costs would be handed to consumers, who, facing already high costs would just have to pay a whole bunch more.
Google found out, it's not a good business to be in. It's expensive, there are cumbersome regulations, it's hard to make a buck - and they were cherry picking to the maximum. You don't see Google lining up to run fiber to rural, 1 ever 5 mile farm houses and little cluster villages. Yet, somehow, that is what is expected of the existing companies.
Remember too: it's not just the cost of your personal last mile. It's the cost of all of the downstream equiipment, network backhaul, and of course the amount of IP transit that has to be purchased to fulfill your service. With the short lifecycle of the equipment, standards, and standard accounting practices it would all have to be written off in a very short few years - which means it would have to go to your bill pretty much directly.
Remember too: Most ISPs are at this point on their fifth or sixth cycle of the internet equipment already. Changing the network to use Fiber would be a huge upgrade for them, they would literally have to replace every piece of equipment from end to end. It's not cheap or easy.
Ask Google. They pretty much stopped investing because they figured out they couldn't get reasonable return on their money, and it was actual hard work!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: If the facts get in the way...
Nobody should have the right to block a municipality or any other entity from setting up the infrastructure required to bring broadband to communities. That these big companies do is where the problem lies. Fix that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Add enormous costs?
Or is the enormous cost in embarrassment when they have to publicly admit what a lousy job they are doing?
Or is the enormous cost in the additional infrastructure they will have to repair/install in order to make the maps produced look more like they should, without the holes in the 'installed' areas and the blanks in areas where promised installations have not taken place?
Maybe it would be simpler if they maps were on the state level, where one installation would mark a state as 'installed'?
That these companies are not fighting for more customers is a contradiction that I cannot ken.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mapping
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Mapping
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Mapping
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Mapping
They know exactly where they do provide service whenever it is time to send out bills.
They also know exactly where the don't provide service when you call them after you've moved in, even if they don't want to tell you when you call beforehand, and ask for thousands of dollars to extend from where they do have service to your new home.
The long and short of it is they could not reasonably be in business if they did not know where their damn systems were located.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Mapping
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Mapping
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Mapping
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Mapping
Yup, which means they are either lying through their teeth when they claim that providing that data would be impossibly expensive because they already have it, or those sites are providing false information when they claim to list what areas have service, something which might get them in a bit of hot water if it were to be confirmed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Uh Huh, What a Claim
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You mean like when you get a sucker on the hook who was told you provide service to their address, but when they try to sign up you ask them to pay $15,000 to connect them to your lines?
You expect that customer to eat all the costs for you to expand your coverage that then you can add more people to.
Luckily you are making a killing on inaccurate meters, set top box monopoly, modem monopolies, billing errors that require the media to intervene to get solved... it shouldn't be that much of a burden, perhaps cut the pay of your VP of customer service... he ain't doing the job.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ISPs are incompetent at mapping it
Story time, I think part of why the ISP's don't like this is because they're so incompetent that their own internal maps are wrong.
Years ago the business I worked at wanted to upgrade to get Verizon FIOS. But we were told repeatedly that it wasn't available in our area. This was despite the fact that:
Our next door neighbor, a dental office, already had FIOS.
After some arguing with them over the phone we finally got them to send a technician out, to verify that their maps were wrong and we could get FIOS.
But the best part? A few years later we got a knock on our door from a Verizon salesman, asking us if we wanted to upgrade to the FIOS we already had!
So yes, despite them having several years to fix their maps, and being told by us that FIOS was available in the area, and despite the fact that we were paying for it, Verizon was incompetent enough to send a salesman to our door offering to sell it to us.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: ISPs are incompetent at mapping it
Did you convince them to beat the price of your current service?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: ISPs are incompetent at mapping it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
There is one stunning succes
I'll take his half-measures and earnest attempts over this any day of the week...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lets see.....
Promises
Counting services that have little or NO coverage..
Just cause others MAY have hardware in an area, does NOT make it available.
What is competition?>
Satellite services? (games with a 5-8 second LAG)
CELLPHONES? that make promises that ARNT EQUAL..(go look at a Cell map and SHOW me all the HOLES in it)
Fiber optic lines IN THE AREA, which have no connections Anyplace near the location.(we have 3 running threw my area)
LAST MILE??
Copper lines GO THERE, so we have coverage..56k is fast enough..DSL is fast enough...
PTLD had a 6% coverage when the internet STARTED..Which means that 6% of the population USING the phones would(almost) overwhelm the system.. AND IF you PAID for ISDN...YOU WERE RICH. 8 lines combined to give you FAST service.
Corp mentality:
How little can I BUILD and CHARGE the most for the service..
1 phone pole will cost you $3000-10,000 PER POLE AND WIRE INSTALL...
PART of the problem is Overhauling the WHOLE system. THEY dont want to PAY for it. and the GOV. has already PAID 2 times to get the LAST MILE COVERED.
MOST services and companies ARE THE LAST MILE...all the stuff in the middle HAS BEEN done(mostly)./.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Lets see.....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"So you don't know where you offer service? I'm sure the public would LOVE to know that."
Such proposals would impose enormous costs on fixed broadband providers without providing any real benefit to the Commission or the public.
With respect to the Form 477, the Commission should avoid collecting data that is so detailed or voluminous that it is expensive for providers to produce, difficult for the Commission to process, or unhelpful to the public.
Being able to pull up information as to whether or not they are able to offer service at a given location is kinda necessary for them to be able to tell people that might be moving there whether or not they can actually offer service, so either they are admitting that they regularly lie when it comes to that, or they are claiming that it would be prohibitively expensive to offer information they already have.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]