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by waynesonfire 1730 days ago
> Nor is this a coverage map

The first sentence,

"This map shows the 4G LTE mobile _coverage_ areas of the nation’s four largest mobile wireless carriers: AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, UScellular, and Verizon."

The next sentence further defines what coverage means, a cellular signal with a minimum bandwidth requirement.

I'll listen to you though.

What is missing but would be useful is how many users it can support at that minimum bandwidth.

1 comments

I'm not saying anything in conflict with the words on this page. This page maps the coverage of services provided by infrastructure that the carriers own. That is not (necessarily) the same as the coverage map of where subscribers can get connectivity.

As the page mentions:

> The coverage maps on these service providers’ websites may be based on different parameters and assumptions, such as roaming, and may therefore differ from the information shown here.

It also mentions that the data is generated from Form 477 data. This form only includes data from operators who own their infrastructure. This means it will not include information about services provided through partnerships.

Seriously -- look at the USCellular map layer. This is not a map of the service area that a USCellular customer would expect, because USCellular makes a significant use of roaming under contract with other carriers (labelled 'partner coverage' on their own maps). https://www.uscellular.com/coverage-map/voice-and-data-maps

Also, my reply was in response to a comment about MVNOs, which may or may not provide services equivalent to the carriers they virtualize their network through.