Vermont officials suspected cellphone coverage maps were too good to be true. They were right.

Cell carriers claim that you should be able to stream online video on your cellphone almost anywhere in Vermont. But in some places in the state, it's not even possible to make a phone call. 

A Vermont Department of Public Service official spent about six weeks proving that point to the federal government. Corey Chase, the department's telecommunications infrastructure specialist, drove around Vermont with six cellphones, each connected to a different carrier. The result is the first independent map of Vermont cell service that's rooted in experience. The new map shows that cell carriers have overstated their coverage in large swaths of Vermont.