Netflix, the pioneer video-streaming service, firmly believes that the quality and experience of video streaming largely depends on the stability and speed of the user’s broadband connection. Therefore, ISPs across the globe are monitored routinely and ranked by Netflix for their speed.
Speed vital for good Netflix experience
By monitoring and ranking ISPs, the streaming company tries to keep track of the best performing ISPs, and the results are made public for the convenience of people who want to get the best streaming experience. In its ISPs ranking, Netflix includes all of its territories around the world where its services are available, and the recent results for the month of July are quite interesting.
The title of the best ISP provider in the U.S. has been won by Cox that offers an average speed of 3.62 Mbps. Next is Cablevision with a speed of 3.59 Mbps, with third place being bagged by Verizon FIOS (fiber) at 3.54 Mbps. These three ISPs succeeded in maintaining their respective positions from last year’s results. Charter moved up by two positions and is fourth. It now offers an average speed of 3.46 Mbps, and can challenge the dominance of the top three ISPs.
Among the bottom three were Clearwire (the only U.S.-based wireless ISP consider by Netflix for ranking) with 1.19 Mbps, Verizon DSL with 1.9 Mbps and CenturyLink with 2.27 Mbps. Since the difference in the average speed offered is massive, it is bound to affect the sound and picture quality of the videos streamed on Netflix.
Canadian ISPs outperform the U.S.
One interesting fact is that the best-performing Canadian ISP, Bell Canada, which makes use of fiber optic network, achieved an average prime time speed of 3.73 Mbps, and thus outperformed all the top three US ISPs.
Of all the countries covered by Netflix, the fastest services are enjoyed by Switzerland. An ISP in the country, Improware ISP, achieved an average prime-time speed of 4.43 Mbps. European minnow Luxembourg with 4.12 Mbps had the highest average speed performance across all ISPs. Costa Rica was found to be the most poorly served country, managing an average speed of just 1.654 Mbps across all ISPs.
At 9.40 am EDT Wednesday, Netflix shares were down 0.78% at $121.65.
