I have been watching the housing market in Texas (rural areas around Houston, Dallas, and Austin) for a while. I've been actively looking at homes for the past few months. I'm closing on a home in a week assuming it all goes well. As a software developer one of my criteria for buying a home has been "fast" internet.

FCC's website [0] is the absolute opposite of reliable. Information there is, at best, not up to date. There are some cases where I'm convinced that the internet service providers are maliciously claiming service in an area that they do not actually provide.

Then there's the internet service providers themselves. They'll offer fast service on their website just because they offer it in the zip code. Then you call to order, spend an hour on the phone, and discover that they don't provide service to that address. Sometimes it's because the telephone pole is too far by a few feet or a few miles. Or sometimes it's because they don't provide service to that zip code at all.

And then if you ask how much it will cost to build service to that address... you're lucky if they'll give you a quote. Most of the time they'll refuse to build.

Some of them will tell you to go to their "partner" [19] who will figure out who your ISP is... and that partner will then send you right back to that same ISP who will deny service.

I have documentation. Would the Texas AG file a criminal complaint? No, I don't trust he would. The Texas AG is demonstrably as corrupt as the rest of the current Texas government.

There are some regional ISPs that are "better" because they don't seem to employ the scummy tactics about zip codes... but they also don't provide a wide service area and often won't build out.

The FCC's website is so unreliable that I'd end up just having to call every ISP and asking whether they service the address. And even more importantly is I'd have to ask specifically about serviceability of that address and beware of the representative just parroting the zip code offer. I'd end up spending multiple hours to check a single address for internet service. Then I'd end up trying to filter a dozen addresses a week. It's fucking infuriating.

[0]: https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/

[1]: Altice (Suddenlink): https://www.suddenlink.com

[2]: Altice (Optimum) https://www.optimum.com/alticeone

[3]: CableOne (Sparklight, NewWave): https://www.sparklight.com

[4]: Windstream: https://www.windstream.net/high-speed-internet

[5]: Comcast: https://www.xfinity.com/learn/offers

[6]: AT&T: https://www.att.com/buy/bundles

[7]: Entouch https://www.entouch.net/

[8]: Frontier https://frontier.com/

[9]: GCTR (Vyve) https://vyvebroadband.com/

[10]: Spectrum (Charter) https://www.spectrum.com/

[11]: Consolidated https://www.consolidated.com/

[12]: CenturyLink https://www.centurylink.com/

[13]: EarthLink https://internet.earthlink.com/

[14]: Livingston Communications https://livcom.us/

[15]: Lake Livingston Telephone Company https://lakelinkgstontel.com/

[16]: Colorado Valley Telephone Co-operative https://www.cvctx.com/

[17]: People's Telephone Co-operative https://peoplescom.net/

[18]: Eastex https://www.eastex.com/

[19]: SmartMove.US is fucking trash https://www.smartmove.us/