FCC Broadband Map
FCC Broadband Map provides broadband deployment data — ISP coverage, speeds, and technology types by location. Data includes provider name, technology (fiber, cable, DSL, fixed wireless, satellite), download/upload speeds, and coverage areas. Updated semi-annually from ISP filings.
Data Model
- As-of dates — availability and challenge snapshot dates.
- Availability catalog — metadata for CSV/ZIP bulk files: provider lists, location coverage, summaries by state or provider.
- Challenge catalog — challenge-process download metadata for a snapshot date.
- File download — binary CSV/ZIP bundles; MCPBundles stores large files in S3 and returns a presigned download_url.
- Providers — ISP names and provider IDs in national/state provider list files.
- Technologies — Fixed Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Mobile Voice (download file groupings).
- Geography — catalog rows include state_fips / state_name; filter client-side when the API returns a multi-state set.
Typical workflow
- List availability and challenge snapshot dates (no parameters).
- With an as_of_date, browse the availability download catalog — category is required (usually State or Summary); add subcategory to narrow (e.g. Provider List, Location Coverage).
- For national provider-list file metadata on a snapshot, use the provider-list shortcut (pass state_fips for API compatibility; the file is typically one CSV covering all states).
- List challenge-process download files for a snapshot; filter by category (e.g. Fixed Challenge - In Progress); state_fips may be ignored upstream — filter rows locally when you need one state.
- Download by file_id from catalog rows; large files return a presigned S3 URL.
Gotchas
- Auth: FCC requires account email and API token sent as HTTP headers — not query params or Bearer auth.
- Catalog requires category: as_of_date alone on availability catalog often returns zero rows. Always pass category (and usually subcategory) when listing files.
- technology_type needs category: Pass category=State (or Summary) together with technology_type; technology alone returns empty.
- state_fips on availability/challenge catalog: Upstream may ignore state_fips and return multi-state rows — filter the returned data[] by state_fips / state_name when you need one state.
- Newest snapshot date: The latest listed availability date may have an empty catalog until FCC publishes files; try the previous date if you get zero rows.
- file_type on download: The download step uses a numeric format code (typically 1), not the catalog row's string file_type label (e.g. csv).
- Rate limits: Snapshot-date listing is capped at 10 calls/minute per FCC spec — cache dates when possible.
- Point lookups: Lat/lon inline coverage is not on this bulk-download surface; use published bulk files or FCC point lookup products separately if needed.
- No inline ISP search: There is no search-by-address or search-by-company-name on this surface — only bulk CSV/ZIP downloads.
