Coverage is Not Binary: Quantifying Mobile Broadband Quality in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Contexts

Vivek Adarsh, Michael Nekrasov, Udit Paul, Tarun Mangla, Arpit Gupta, Morgan Vigil-Hayes, Ellen Zegura, Elizabeth Belding · 2021

Summary. This paper measures mobile broadband quality across urban, rural, and tribal areas in the United States. The researchers found that LTE networks in tribal and rural regions deliver significantly worse performance than urban networks, with 9 times poorer video quality, 10 times higher video delays, and 11 times worse throughput, even when customers have identical service plans. Coverage alone does not guarantee usable service.

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Adarsh, V., Nekrasov, M., Paul, U., Mangla, T., Gupta, A., Vigil-Hayes, M., Zegura, E., & Belding, E.. (2021). Coverage is Not Binary: Quantifying Mobile Broadband Quality in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Contexts. https://doi.org/10.1109/icccn52240.2021.9522152

@article{adarsh-2021-coverage-not-binary-quantifying-mobile,
  title   = {Coverage is Not Binary: Quantifying Mobile Broadband Quality in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Contexts},
  author  = {Vivek Adarsh and Michael Nekrasov and Udit Paul and Tarun Mangla and Arpit Gupta and Morgan Vigil-Hayes and Ellen Zegura and Elizabeth Belding},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.1109/icccn52240.2021.9522152},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1109/icccn52240.2021.9522152}
}

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TI  - Coverage is Not Binary: Quantifying Mobile Broadband Quality in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Contexts
AU  - Vivek Adarsh
AU  - Michael Nekrasov
AU  - Udit Paul
AU  - Tarun Mangla
AU  - Arpit Gupta
AU  - Morgan Vigil-Hayes
AU  - Ellen Zegura
AU  - Elizabeth Belding
PY  - 2021
DO  - 10.1109/icccn52240.2021.9522152
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Details

DOI: 10.1109/icccn52240.2021.9522152
Countries: United States
Regions: North America
Categories: broadband-and-digital, rural-data-and-definitions
Added: 2026-04-28