Talk:Broadband mapping in the United States

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Floated article Sep 28 2010[edit]

Think this is an important topic since what happens with broadband will affect lots of people including us Wikipedians, like how fast our pages load and whether Wikipedia can keep doing those animation files. There are cool diagrams of Broadband maps but not always public domain images and such. Perhaps may need more categories at bottom. And wondering what external links to pick.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 13:10, 28 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Added some background July 30, 2011[edit]

Added some legislative background. This article could use some major revisions. The section about "Lack of mapping standards", is no longer accurate as there is a National Broadband Map and there are standards. BroadbandGuru

Yes, thanks, it does need much more work. In particular, the National Broadband Plan (United States) seems to overlap quite a bit, but there are now no links at all between the two. One of my pet peaves, is the link to broadband which is the technical concept, not the marketing concept that this article talks about. I think it really means "Internet access from a phone company or cable TV company" which is the unfortunate pop meaning for the word "broadband". Note that one can always string your own fiber optic cable, hire a backhoe, or buy your own microwave dishes etc. to get whatever rate you want to the Internet. It is just a matter of money. Nobody seems to mention those because it would not necessarily go through the local monopoly provider. The dated language is also an issue here. It seems to put undue weight on about a two year period. After the 2010 elections and the 2011 debt crisis, for example, this issue has been dropped quickly from politician's agendas. Wikipedia just had a ten year anniversary; think about what readers in 2021 will care about and put things in perspective. For example, the map adds color, but is not sourced. When was the data taken? And does one business having a single 100 Mbit/s link cause the whole county to turn red? Just one of the issues mentioned in the article, which could use some editing. I will take a pass at it. W Nowicki (talk) 19:07, 30 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

OK I worked on it a bit. As for "standards", yes, the case could be made that there are too many, in fact. That is why I added a bit of verbage about how "broadband" is just a marketing or policy buzzword, not technical. It is still not clear how much of the millions was actually spent on the lobbyists for the map, as opposed to the other aspects of the plans (telco subsidies for rural access etc.) before the 2010 election changed the political winds. Do not want to overlap too much with other related articles that also need help. Another major change of course is the iPad and its ilk. If someone "cuts the cord" and uses their iPad instead of a wireline connection, where do they get counted? W Nowicki (talk) 21:54, 30 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Good work upgrading this; and it's particularly helpful for people who know more about computers and the Internet than I do. I floated this a while back but you're right it's getting outdated. I had to redo the map (in keeping with copyvio rules) using a pre-loaded Wikimedia map of California counties (and I added the colors) but I don't remember what source I used exactly, and I think it's pretty accurate, but probably out of date now. If there are national Internet access maps by the US government, then those are fair game for inclusion. Let me know if I can help here.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 22:27, 30 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for noticing. I do try to filter both technical jargon and political propaganda, but it can be tough. Here is a question: there is a line saying the FCC has another mapping effort, but it does not give a source. By that do you mean the National Broadband Plan (United States)? It seems that might have been independent of this effort, just both funded by the same "stimulus" package. Have not found another mapping project, but maybe there was. Also the reference to Africa used an article about general money for "broadband", nothing about mapping.

The diagram says "Derived from a US Census publication" but not clear if that refers to the map or the bit rate data? Given the same exact words are in File:California counties outline map.svg, I would guess just the outlines. Since those kinds of rates generally go to big businesses and educational institutions, not clear it is that relevant to the article. Many of these often confuse personal home access with access in general, which is frustrating. Need to dig out some sources mentioning this. The fed map should be public domain, so maybe we can do a screen shot of that, altough it might be not big enough to be interesting. Article content probably still needs some work too. I also noticed User:BroadbandGuru/Broadband Technology Opportunity Program about yet more government programs that we might want to mention.This is going to take some time. Luckily (?) the government is running out of cash which might slow down these efforts, so that we can catch up! W Nowicki (talk) 22:34, 31 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Lol. You're doing a great job revitalizing this. If you need me to research a specific topic let me know, but generally I am not well versed in computer-related topics as you are so I'll defer to your judgment on this one.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 00:54, 1 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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