[jedberg]

Yeah, but census blocks are too big. Also, if one person in a census block has that level of access, the entire block is counted. The ISPs know this and game it. They will make their service available to one house in all the blocks that neighbor a block they actually serve, so they can get five blocks instead of one.

[dillonmckay]

Exactly. There is legislation pending at the federal level to gain better insights.

‘Measuring the Economic Impact of Broadband Act’ was introduced in the senate recently.

[paulddraper]

There are 6 million inhabited census blocks, averaging 52 residents per block. [1]

Even the larger ones still only have a few hundred people (and those are dense, apartment-heavy areas where multiple ISPs are common anyway).

I don't doubt there is some polishing the numbers, but it's still a very granular measure.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_block