The FCC Has Published a 4G LTE Mobile Coverage Map
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published a 4G LTE mobile coverage map that shows you what you can really expect from your wireless carrier.
“This map shows where customers can expect to receive 4G LTE broadband service at a minimum user download speed of five megabits per second (5 Mbps) and a user upload speed of one megabit per second (1 Mbps) based on propagation modeling,” the FCC explains. “[It] includes separate layers for each carrier’s broadband and voice coverage. Voice coverage areas represent where customers should expect to make and receive mobile voice calls and send and receive texts over the 4G LTE network, without regard to throughput speed. 4G LTE data service meeting a 5/1 Mbps minimum speed may not be available in areas where only voice coverage is shown on the map.”
You can find the interactive map on the FCC website. To use it, enter an address or just zoom into specific locations. Then, you can toggle the data and voice coverage for AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon Wireless.
The map was created as part of the Commission’s Broadband Data Collection project and it serves as a preview of that work. Today, it represents only a subset of the full set of mobile broadband availability data that will be collected as part of the project, and 3G and 5G data will be added as it becomes available from the carriers. You can learn more about the Broadband Data Collection project from the FCC website.