At Least One Major Carrier Lied About Its 4G Coverage, FCC Review Finds (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Four months after receiving a complaint claiming that Verizon "grossly overstated" its 4G LTE coverage in government filings, the Federal Communications Commission says that at least one carrier is apparently guilty of significant rules violations. The FCC did not name any specific carrier in its announcement and did not respond to our question about whether Verizon is among the carriers being investigated. But the investigation was apparently triggered by a complaint about Verizon filed in August by the Rural Wireless Association (RWA).

The RWA, which represents rural carriers, made its case to the FCC by submitting speed test data. The speed tests showed the Verizon network wasn't providing 4G LTE service in areas that Verizon claimed to cover, according to the RWA. Inaccurate coverage maps could make it difficult for rural carriers to get money from the Mobility Fund, a government fund intended for unserved areas. "A preliminary review of speed test data submitted through the challenge process suggested significant violations of the Commission's rules," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday in his announcement of the FCC investigation. The FCC said its investigation focuses on "whether one or more major carriers violated the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) reverse auction's mapping rules and submitted incorrect coverage maps."

Comments

Coverage maps lie?

[dgatwood]

Like the old joke about politicians.

Q: How do you know a politician is lying?

A: His/her lips are moving.

In much the same vein, you know a coverage map is lying because the carrier provided it.

Re:Coverage maps lie?

[Immerman]

In this case though they lied to the federal oversight organization in order to secure extra incentives. It'd be nice to see that carry the same penalties as intentionally lying on any other federally mandated oversight, such as taxes or other financial statements.

Personally I think that should at a minimum involve jail time for the executive responsible for having the reports produced, but I'm not holding my breath.

Oh really!!???

[BLToday]

Damn, next you're going to tell me the Sun is hot.

And Pai's covering for Verizon as usual

[Sarusa]

Not announcing any names till he figures out how to not implicate his corporate masters at Verizon. Given how this investigation started, and given they're evil bastards who lie about everything I have no doubt they're one of the firms. The only question is who else?

I'm sure gigantic fines of maybe $10000 will be applied. That'll teach 'em.

Ajit Shitstain won't do anything

[Desler]

But it's not like Verizon's lapdog is going to do anything. So there's nothing Verizon is worrying about.

Re:I'll wager T-Mobile

[mcswell]

I live south of Baltimore MD, and my daughter was attending college in Fairmont WV. The Verizon map showed (as of three or four years ago) continuous coverage from here to there, and there. There was not; there were numerous long gaps along I-70 and I-68 between Frederick MD and somewhere in eastern WV, and no coverage whatsoever that I ever discovered in Fairmont or the surrounding area for ten or so miles--not even at Fairmont State University, which is on a hill above much of the city of Fairmont. It was around that time that I switched to AT&T (via StraightTalk), and since then I've always had good reception all along that route.

So no, I do not believe Verizon's coverage maps. I'm glad someone in the FCC agrees.

Get OpenSignal

[bill_mcgonigle]

Run it, use its maps. Carriers lie, radios don't.

https://opensignal.com/