FCC'S BROADBAND MAPS COULD BE INACCURATE.

The Federal Communications Commission recently released a draft of its new broadband infrastructure maps, which it calls "the best picture available to date of where broadband is and is not available across the country."

The maps online paint a surprisingly rosy picture of high-speed internet availability in North Carolina, labeling most areas as having "100% coverage" with the exception of a few sparsely populated spots near the coast and in the far western mountains.

It's also not an accurate picture, according to the N.C. Department of Information Technology's Division of Broadband and Digital Equity.

"It overstates broadbands availability even more than the FCC's current maps," deputy secretary Nate Denny says. He said the data factors in the availability of satellite internet, and while that's a piece of the broadband puzzle, "it's not necessarily reliable yet and it's not necessarily affordable yet."

Denny says he's hopeful the FCC will make major...