The Signal Strength Map was created using publicly available data from the FCC. Here's what you need to know.
The FCC requires mobile network operators (MNOs) to fill out Form 477 twice per year, which requests information about where the MNOs offer service with speeds greater than 200Kbps.
MNOs are also required to provide file maps of their coverage areas for each type of network technology they are currently using (3G, LTE, or 5G).
Most recently, the FCC added that carriers must supply signal strength data for each type of network technology as well. Signal strength represents how strong your mobile connection is to a cell tower, but it does not indicate how fast your data speeds will be.
The FCC provides the signal strength data that is accessible through an interactive map.
Unfortunately, the map isn't the most intuitive to use.
Each mobile provider and each network must be added to the map manually every time.
Some hexagons also display they only have a certain percentage of coverage, like 16% or 48%. But, the hexagons remain fully colored, so it's more challenging to visualize what coverage really looks like.
Thankfully, the FCC makes all data submitted by the MNOs publicly available.
And we discovered the dataset also included signal strength values.
So, we built our own signal strength map using the FCC data.
Our map is a heat map to provide more detailed information about where signal strength is strong and where it weak.
We also made it so our map resizes more fluidly as you zoom in and out to provide a better overall user experience.
And it just takes one click to switch between networks or to filter by 5G or LTE.
We hope you enjoy!