Throughout the Sunflower State, Kansans answered the call and challenged the legitimacy of coverage maps from various cellular carriers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB) this opportunity.

Members of Farm Bureau in Kansas conducted more than 6,000 tests using major cellular carriers. Of the tests, more than 2,600 met the required FCC guidelines including samples outside a building or vehicle, no-Wi-Fi usage, location enabled and manually initiated.

Nearly 1,600 reported download speeds of less than 5 Megabits per second – well below the threshold of adequate service.

Six locations from southeast of Bern to the Macksville area met the FCC criteria for substandard service.

KFB President Rich Felts, who farms in southeastern Kansas, praised the efforts undertaken by more than 300 Kansas and then validated by the state’s largest farm organization.

“Every Kansan deserves high-speed service no matter where they live,” Felts said. “From emergency services to advances in educational opportunities to precision agriculture, urban and rural areas alike depend on fast and reliable wireless service.”

Kansas Farm Bureau believes its effort to identify FCC minimum threshold cellular coverage data will help direct FCC funding back to carriers to improve cellular service to Farm Bureau members and all Kansans.