On October 29 the Federal Communications Commission released its latest Fixed Broadband Deployment Data from FCC Form 477.  As always, it shows each Internet provider’s self-reported “maximum advertised download and upload speeds” available to one or more homes in each Census block. The FCC’s new data is current for December 2020, just eleven months ago.

The State of Ohio is now reviewing a first round of proposals for more than $200 million in public subsidies for new broadband deployment in “unserved areas”,  defined as areas lacking home Internet service at speeds of at least 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up.  The General Assembly meant for these subsidies to go to rural Ohio, and they probably will.

But what if we  apply the state’s “unserved” standard — based on the FCC’s definition of broadband — to the Internet speeds available to residents of the state’s most urban area by one of its two big ISPs? Click  below to see the map…

Where AT&T still doesn’t offer 25 Mbps broadband in Cuyahoga County

 

(As we’ve said in the past, everyone knows FCC Form 477 deployment data systematically overstates the places where higher-speed broadband is actually available. But if the FCC data tells us a provider has not upgraded its technology in a particular Census block, or only offers slow Internet service to homes there (or no service at all), we can be pretty sure it’s true!)