[orenmazor]

if only we had a distributed group of people, all of whom with a vested interest in figuring this out, that could help us with doing speed tests in variety of configurations…

[leobelle]

Netflix is already doing this:

http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/usa

[Xylakant]

A rough look at the data suggests that Verizon DLS used to be around a stable 1.4 Mbps until October 2013 and is on a continuous decline since then with a current low of 1.17 Mbps. That would support the OPs theory, but it's only a single datapoint that may have other underlying causes.

[orenmazor]

Oh wow. I was being tongue in cheek about us techies, but looks like Netflix beat me to it here. awesome!