I have Comcast home internet in the bay area (Speedtest is around 30mbit down/8 mbit up) and every time I try to watch anything on Netflix it buffers for a minute and the resolution usually stays unacceptably low (320p?!) while usually having to buffer again every 2-5 minutes, sometimes for the whole run time of the show. Meanwhile, Comcast's own XFINITY streaming service delivers instantly (no buffering) at full HD resolution.
I actually never understood what the whole net neutrality discussion is about, as it's very obvious that we're already getting screwed over by ISPs.
Contrariwise, I have Sonic's "Fusion" bonded ADSL in SF. My modem and Speedtest.net report around 12/2 Mbits down/up, and both Netflix and Amazon Prime consistently stream flawless HD for me.
I've had the exact same experience in Houston with Comcast + Netflix at slightly faster speeds. Eventually I dropped Netflix because it was unusable everywhere except my phone. Oddly I don't have the same issues with Amazon Prime, YouTube, or MLB/MiLB streaming. Given that Prime is also a direct competitor to Comcast streaming I'm not entirely convinced this experience with Netflix is the result of some deliberate plot on the part of Comcast versus some other bizarre issue.
That isn't to say I disagree with network neutrality - I think it's vital. I'm just not going to attribute to malice what is quite possibly the result of incompetence.
In the bay area, do look at sonic.net; there are real limitations to their last mile connectivity (ADSL line shared including in Remote Terminals, or ADSL2 from Central Offices, and a couple small Fiber installs), but they have very good connectivity once you get in.
I could rant about network neutrality... Comcast may not be (and probably isn't) doing anything to degrade Netflix's ability to stream to you; but they're probably also not making as many upgrades to peering or transit capacity as they could for that traffic.
It's hard to tell how often this is getting messed up by content delivery partners in the middle, versus intentional traffic shaping, but it sucks either way.
I'm in exactly the same boat. I'm >14000 wire feet from the xo, so dsl barely works, either. Net neutrality is needed as long as consumers don't have real, competitive choices.
I have a similar issue using Brighthouse in Florida. For the longest time I was able to stream HD quality from netflix through my roku, until recently. I always suspect that my ISP is somehow the cause, the only problem is I can't imagine how I would prove it, or what I could do even if I could prove it.
The fine print: "These ratings reflect the average performance of all Netflix streams on each ISPs network from Nov. 2012 through Sept. 2013 and average performance during prime time starting in Oct. 2013. The average is well below the peak performance due to many factors including the variety of encodes we use to deliver the TV shows and movies we carry as well as home Wi-Fi and the variety of devices our members use. Those factors cancel out when comparing across ISPs, so these relative rankings are a good indicator of the consistent performance typically experienced across all users on an ISP network. - See more at: http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/usa#sthash.ufsSY1Bi.dpuf"
Right! I even entered /canada manually but it seems like they just don't measure it. Though humiliation means nothing to the Big Three but it is still fun to watch how horrible our internet providers are.
I don't see that this tells us anything of interest at all. It's certainly not saying how fast a given ISP can go if you pay for it. I think it's largely reflecting a combination of which ISPs have a higher-proportion of subscribers on cheap plans, and who has users that are pulling content through marginal WiFi connections.
Would be more useful if it controlled for what plans people are on.
You really need a scatterplot here, or to look for clusters at certain speeds. Say you're looking around 15 Mbps. At that rate, which company has all the subscribers coming in at 16, and which ones at 13 or 14?
Since there are a relatively small number of speed options, it should be possible to notice these sorts of clusters in the data.
Also, how sensitive is a certain company's speeds to time of day? Whose average dips the most during peak viewing times?
It seems like even a little data analysis would go a long way here...
Remember this is the speed (in theory) that you get from Netflix on that ISP. Netflix is not measuring your total ISP bandwidth. They can only measure how much bandwidth the ISP provides you for Netflix.
> the average performance is well below the peak performance due to many factors including the variety of encodes Netflix uses to deliver the TV shows and movies as well as the variety of devices members use and home network conditions. These factors cancel out when comparing across ISPs.
Speedtest results are completely irrelevant because Netflix uses Level 3 as CDN and bandwidth between Level 3 and Comcast is always 100% utilized at prime time.
We have Cox in my state, and I have been incredibly impressed with how reliable they are for Internet. It's refreshing to just take my connectivity for granted and not even remember the last time I've had issues or slowdowns.
The only real downside is that when I recommend Cox to friends, I have to be very careful how I say it.
After living in a Comcast stronghold for > a decade, I was flabbergasted at how ... decent Cox is, in terms of both quality and customer service. I'm still waiting with baited breath for them to realize that they can get away with more and pull one on me.
They have Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, and Finland listed on that site but not Canada? All of which have a combined population smaller than that of Canada.
Forgive me if i am not reading this correctly, but surely we need to know what bandwidth netflix is streaming at?
For example Virgin in the UK offers 20mbps+ on their fibre network for most customers, so this is telling me that netflix is able to stream at a maximum bitrate (of assumably 3mbps)?
What this is not telling me is that Virgin's average network speed.
It looks like this is just measuring the average bitrate that people are streaming at. It won't reflect whether or not someone is capable of watching higher quality streams than Netflix is actually giving them. I don't think their highest quality is more than 6 megabits/sec, and it's only available on certain devices and movies.
Out here in the flyover states, complaining about Frontier's terrible service is right up there with deer hunting and watching old episodes of "Hee Haw".
Now we see AT&T and Verizon are doing even worse than Frontier and somehow a cable provider is getting flattened by DSL. What's up?
How is ClearWire considered "fixed"? Anyway it's not called that anymore.
I guess this info might be useful for public policy, but there's so much variability within a single provider that you wouldn't want to choose an ISP based on this alone.
My guess is because latency is not relevant when it comes to streaming videos from Netflix. A consumer will not be able to notice their video took 40 milliseconds longer to start streaming. They will, however, notice when the video stops to buffer every 10-15 minutes because their ISP can't keep up with the throughput.
[+] [-] tinbad|12 years ago|reply
I actually never understood what the whole net neutrality discussion is about, as it's very obvious that we're already getting screwed over by ISPs.
[+] [-] rosser|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cydonian_monk|12 years ago|reply
That isn't to say I disagree with network neutrality - I think it's vital. I'm just not going to attribute to malice what is quite possibly the result of incompetence.
[+] [-] saadullahsaeed|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toast0|12 years ago|reply
I could rant about network neutrality... Comcast may not be (and probably isn't) doing anything to degrade Netflix's ability to stream to you; but they're probably also not making as many upgrades to peering or transit capacity as they could for that traffic.
[+] [-] brownbat|12 years ago|reply
It's hard to tell how often this is getting messed up by content delivery partners in the middle, versus intentional traffic shaping, but it sucks either way.
[+] [-] jwatte|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harshpotatoes|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bhousel|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aaront|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] middleclick|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CWuestefeld|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brownbat|12 years ago|reply
You really need a scatterplot here, or to look for clusters at certain speeds. Say you're looking around 15 Mbps. At that rate, which company has all the subscribers coming in at 16, and which ones at 13 or 14?
Since there are a relatively small number of speed options, it should be possible to notice these sorts of clusters in the data.
Also, how sensitive is a certain company's speeds to time of day? Whose average dips the most during peak viewing times?
It seems like even a little data analysis would go a long way here...
[+] [-] ihsw|12 years ago|reply
http://blog.netflix.com/2014/01/new-isp-performance-data-for...
[+] [-] b0b0b0b|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] penguindev|12 years ago|reply
luckily, speedtest.net shows me a lot higher than that... 25mbps, to be precise.
Edit: I see Netflix has tweaked their results to use 'Prime Time' readings only. I guess I should retest this evening as well.
[+] [-] Finster|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] modeless|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] masklinn|12 years ago|reply
> the average performance is well below the peak performance due to many factors including the variety of encodes Netflix uses to deliver the TV shows and movies as well as the variety of devices members use and home network conditions. These factors cancel out when comparing across ISPs.
[+] [-] btian|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thisiswrong|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skue|12 years ago|reply
The only real downside is that when I recommend Cox to friends, I have to be very careful how I say it.
[+] [-] el_benhameen|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GigabyteCoin|12 years ago|reply
How odd.
[+] [-] webjames|12 years ago|reply
For example Virgin in the UK offers 20mbps+ on their fibre network for most customers, so this is telling me that netflix is able to stream at a maximum bitrate (of assumably 3mbps)?
What this is not telling me is that Virgin's average network speed.
[+] [-] ancarda|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Rebelgecko|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brixon|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kirkbackus|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PaulHoule|12 years ago|reply
Out here in the flyover states, complaining about Frontier's terrible service is right up there with deer hunting and watching old episodes of "Hee Haw".
Now we see AT&T and Verizon are doing even worse than Frontier and somehow a cable provider is getting flattened by DSL. What's up?
[+] [-] jrockway|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] c0nsumer|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jessaustin|12 years ago|reply
I guess this info might be useful for public policy, but there's so much variability within a single provider that you wouldn't want to choose an ISP based on this alone.
[+] [-] ambler0|12 years ago|reply
EDIT: I'm wrong. It still says fixed when you use the "over time" view.
[+] [-] shmerl|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] avis|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ghshephard|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] geraldcombs|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RKearney|12 years ago|reply