BRIDGE Act’s broadband mapping approach will delay closing the digital divide
Jeffrey Westling, resident fellow in technology and innovation for the R Street Institute, predicts that states possibly creating their own standards for broadband maps could result in chaos.
“We’re going to have states creating their own definitions for where broadband actually is,” he told the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA).
Westling noted that several factors can lead to misleading data on broadband availability. He points out that interference with a Wi-Fi router – which supplies internet to the vast majority of devices inside buildings – can mess with the data. The location of a phone related to its distance to a tower can also result in misleading data.
“There’s so many issues with the data that can paint an inaccurate picture,” Westling said. “I think we really need to focus on getting the maps accurate at the federal level.”
