The Community Broadband Mapping Toolkit is a series of guides and recommendations provided by the National Broadband Mapping Coalition for states, localities, tribes, territories, and third-parties embarking on their own broadband and digital equity data collection process. 

Before undertaking any data collection efforts, there are various existing datasets that any community should be aware of. The Assessing Available Datasets series, will provide descriptions of key considerations to keep in mind when using a dataset. 

FCC Form 477 Data

The primary source for broadband deployment data in the United States is Form 477, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uses to collect data from Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on their service areas and the maximum speeds offered. Form 477 is the official source of broadband availability for the federal government and informs decisions around funding eligibility despite several widely recognized flaws in the methodology. As communities analyze Form 477 data, they should be aware that it may not be an accurate reflection of the local broadband realities. 

Issues with Form 477 Data

The data is self-reported by ISPs 

The FCC relies on self-reported data from ISPs on their service areas and the speeds they provide. While the FCC reviews and processes the data before making it publicly available, there is no robust verification process either internally or independently to ensure that the data is accurate. There have been numerous examples in the past of inaccurate information that overstates the availability of service. 

The data is limited to maximum advertised speeds

The information provided by the FCC only shows the maximum download and upload speeds that an ISP reports providing in an area. This does not reflect the range of plans available, or how much it costs to receive broadband service at a particular speed. Additionally, advertised speeds typically depict the maximum, or “up to”, speeds for a plan and may not reflect the actual speeds that customers are receiving. The gap between advertised and actual speeds is often most evident during periods of peak traffic. On top of these limitations, speeds are not the only metrics that impact the quality of a broadband connection – factors such as latency and jitter can have a significant impact on the ability to use their connection for various purposes. 

The data lacks granularity and overstates availability

Form 477 data is reported and made available at the census block level. Census blocks vary dramatically in size and shape – ranging from a city block to hundreds of square miles in remote regions. This presents a serious limitation to accurate availability data, because an entire census block can be considered served if an ISP claims to be able to serve a single residence. 

The data is out of date

ISPs are required to submit Form 477 twice a year, but the availability of public data typically lags by well over a year. As of May 2022, the current data is based on reporting from December 2020. 

This data can be accessed at broadbandmap.fcc.gov

Updates to FCC Data

It is important to highlight that the U.S. Congress passed the Broadband DATA Act in 2020 to address these issues, directing the FCC to develop a system to collect more granular data and establish a verification mechanism. While certain funding programs, most notably the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, are largely on hold until the FCC releases its updated broadband maps. However, the earliest we can expect to see these maps in Fall of 2022 and the extent to which they improve upon the current data will only be known once they are made available. 

An important development under the new Broadband Data Collection (BDC) program, is that state, local, and Tribal governments are able to submit their data through the same portal as the ISPs. This data will be treated as primary data and any discrepancies between the governmental and ISP datasets will need to be resolved before the disputed locations can be included as authoritative data. The ability to take a direct role in verifying the data reported by ISPs will be critical for the accuracy of the maps. The FCC has provided several resources that governmental entities should be reviewed if they plan to report data to the FCC. 

FCC Broadband Data Collection Resources 

• FCC Publishes Data Specifications for the Broadband Data Collection
• FCC Publishes Additional Data Specifications for the BDC
• Guidance Issued to Government Entities Filing Verified Data in the BDC
• Broadband Data Collection Tribal Governments’ Technical Assistance Workshop

We will update this section of the guide with relevant information as soon as we know more. In the meantime, the Form 477 maps remain the primary source of federal data on broadband availability.