It's here. Commissioned by the Obama Administration's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (remember that?), the Department of Commerce rolled out its National Broadband Map right on deadline.
The DoC announcement comes with the requisite bad news and we've-got-to-do-better commentary. The map indicates that up to 10 percent of Americans still don't have access to broadband speeds that support basic broadband uses like video and video conferencing, notes the DoC's National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
"There are still too many people and community institutions lacking the level of broadband service needed to fully participate in the Internet economy," intoned NTIA Chief Lawrence Strickling, following the map's release.
But the good news is that the National Broadband Map is very accessible and lots of fun. Here's how to use it.
The street where you live
The street where you live
First, just go to the main page and type in an address. I plugged in one of my favorite locations around my neck of the Ars Orbiting HQ: the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library: 100 Larkin Street, 94102.
Almost instantly, I got a breakdown of all available broadband services around the building: wired and wireless. The top landline provider is Comcast, which according to the results offers downloads between 100Mbps-1Gbps using Cable DOCSIS 3.0 and uploads between 10-25Mbps via the same venue.
Next comes AT&T, offering 1.5-3.0Mbps DSL, followed by Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) offering the same via wireless broadband, followed by Sprint Nextel and Verizon providing 768Kbps-1.5Mbps.
