Yeah, about those Verizon and T-Mobile 4G coverage maps…

Anyone who has ever driven through Nebraska knows that 4G LTE coverage is seriously lacking in some parts of the country, but the FCC just revealed that it’s even less available than it should be.

In a report published Wednesday, the FCC found that coverage maps for 4G LTE coverage from the likes of T-Mobile, Verizon, and U.S. Cellular weren’t always accurate after extensive testing. After performing just under 25,000 mobile speed tests in about 10,000 miles of driving, the numbers don’t look great for those carriers.

Specifically, only about 62 percent of those driving tests reached the minimum required download speed to qualify for acceptable 4G LTE coverage in areas where it’s supposed to exist. That’s troubling because, obviously, it’s misleading and those same carriers have coverage maps for their growing 5G networks that could also potentially be misleading.

Unfortunately for those interested in corporate accountability, none of those carriers will be punished. The FCC confirmed as much in a statement to Ars Technica, with the agency opting for a broad advisory to carriers going forward. According to Ars Technica, the FCC couldn’t pin down whether or not the discrepancy between coverage maps and reality was deliberate or not.

The results of the investigation were, oddly enough, tucked into a press release about 5G expansion in rural areas. It will be interesting to see if the industry is a little more forthcoming about the lack of decent mobile internet in large swaths of the United States going forward, as people in those parts of the country have to decide whether or not 5G is for them.