I find this map highly suspect.
I went to the website and looked at their map. There are large areas where
I know broadband is not available. Perhaps they are filling in the gap
with theoretical/commercial satellite services? I think they are mapping
on a macro level and basing their totals on those areas. There are
sections that definitely do not have coverage, not even cellular, though
they could reach a satellite bird with effort.
I personally know dozens of households across the country that cannot get
common wired or wireless broadband services. They are farmers, they are
backwoods communities, they are on the coast, in the mountains, they are
where no company would dare serve. And they are not individuals, they are
communities.
Also, do the statistic make sense? If 55% of the rural areas do not have
access, but 99% of the country does, does that mean about 2% of our
population is rural? Well, not really since the 99% is based on 10Mbps and
the 55% is based on >25Mbps. Still, I know there is a large rural
population that does not have access, let alone urban areas that have no
practical access.
I guess I am a bit of a skeptic when I anecdotally cannot verify such
statistics. But I've never been known to be the norm in any subject.
Dan
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http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/national-broadband-map-has-helped-chart-broadband-evolution
Mon, March 23, 2015 by Anne Neville, Director, State Broadband Initiative
* At lower speeds, Internet access is widely available across both rural
and urban areas. The latest data shows that 99 percent of the country has
access to advertised broadband speeds at 10 megabits per second (Mbps)
through either wired or wireless services, and 93 percent have access to
this speed through wired service alone.
* However, there is still a big gap between urban and rural areas when it
comes to access to broadband at 25 Mbps. The latest data finds that only 55
percent of those in rural communities, and 32 percent of tribal lands have
access to broadband at 25 mbps compared with 94 percent of urban areas.