Latest version of the National Broadband Map debuts

The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) just released the latest update of its National Broadband Map, which details broadband availability across the country. Begun two years ago, the map's latest version is a database showing carrier's broadband speeds searchable by zip code.

The map project was begun two years ago, and the new update was a joint effort by the federal government, the states, and cooperating broadband providers. According to the NTIA:

"With funding from NTIA, made available by the Recovery Act, each state undertook a massive effort to locate broadband availability by census block, essentially dividing the country into more than 11 million distinct areas."

Viewers can sort the data by geographic region or by carrier, and accompanying reports analyze the data into topics, such as Broadband Availability in Urban vs. Rural Areas. Out of this massive survey, the NTIA found out how Americans receive and use broadband. For instance:

"98 percent of Americans now have access to wired or wireless broadband at advertised download speeds of at least 3 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 768 kbps.

"Only 93 percent of Americans have access to these basic broadband speeds through wired services.

"Presently, 81 percent of the country has access to wireless speeds of at least 6 Mbps, leaving us only 17 percentage points away from reaching the President's goal of ensuring that 98 percent of Americans have access to 4G services."

Try out the map for yourself and find out how your own community - or any other - is served by broadband providers.

National Broadband Map (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2013)

Two Years and Five Updates for the National Broadband Map (NTIA, Jan. 31, 2013)
 
National Broadband Map reports and analysis (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2013)