Broadband Access Maps

Internet Availability and Usage

On June 17th, 2021, the federal government released a new broadband map that shows the gap between internet availability and actual usage, with usage reports indicating wide swaths of the country are not making a home broadband connection.

The new "Indicators of Broadband Need" map, developed by the White House and the telecommunications branch of the Commerce Department, pulls together different data sets from Ookla, M-Lab, Microsoft, the Federal Communications Commission and the Census Bureau.

The overlapping data points show areas that need more, better broadband. The map also includes data on places that reported a lack of connection by computer, smartphone or tablet, along with information on broadband usage in high-poverty communities.

To use the map, enter the location you would like to search, for example the Finger Lakes NY, a County or a street address.

If you search, for example, for the Finger Lakes, NY, the search results will locate the Finger Lakes. From here, you can zoom in or out to find the details by census track that you are interested in. Click on the map and it will give you a pop up with the census tract details. Same for a County you might wish to search.

On the left-hand bar there is a box you can check that will show you the high poverty communities with 20 percent or more of the households below the poverty level. The three dots to the right on this box provide the map key that explains what the different colors and shading means.

Access the Map

Internet Providers and Broadband Availability

The Federal Communications Commission has a map that shows broadband availability data that is reported by internet service providers. The map is helpful for obtaining a list of internet service providers in an area. A limitation of the data, however, is that a census block will show as having broadband availability even if only one household in that census tract has broadband.

Broadband Availability Data

New York State Broadband Availability Map

The New York State Residential Broadband Availability map presents broadband service availability, download speed, technology type and provider name information. Consumer cable, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), Fiber-to-the-Home, Fixed Wireless, and Satellite technology information is displayed on the interactive map.

This map allows you to see the broadband awards that NYS has awarded for public-private broadband investments. This, in itself, is helpful. It reveals a lack of awards in the Finger Lakes region.

The data, however, has the same limitations as the FCC Broadband Availability Map because it uses data provided by internet service providers and codes all households in a census tract as having broadband access, even if only one household has it.

The map contains a legend on the left-hand side that allows you to filter by speed and technology type. Light teal represents Unserved areas (areas with access to 0-24 Megabits per-second (Mbps), mild teal represents Underserved areas (areas with access to 25-99 Mbps) and dark teal represents Served areas (areas with access to 100 Mbps or greater). The dark gray layer features areas that are unpopulated, and the light gray layer features areas with housing units for which no provider data has been submitted to the FCC.

Territories covered by broadband investment awards are represented by the "BPO Awards" layers. This layer only appears as a selection option if an award has been provided.

When you click on the map an icon of NYS appears. You will then be redirected to the broadband map.

Broadband Availability Map