Netflix just released its new ISP Speed Index data for the month of July. Last month, they added some icons to the U.S. graph to “increase transparency” about the type of technology used by an ISP. This month, they’ve added them to 12 other countries, including Canada and Mexico.
Things aren’t looking great in terms of ISP speeds here in the U.S., as usual. The country ranked 13th out of the 20 countries Netflix assesses, with average speed of 2.23 Mbps. That’s compared to 3.61 Mbps for the Netherlands, which comes in first place. Norway, Denmark, and Sweden all had average speeds over 2 Mbps. Costa Rica, on the other hand, came in last with 1.48 Mbps. Netflix notes, however, that it has steadily improved performance since it began tracking it.
Cablevision, Cox, and Suddenlink lead ISPs in the U.S. as usual. Most of the list looks pretty much like the previous month’s, though Clearwire and AT&T – U-Verse have switched places at 13 and 14 respectively .
“The Netflix ISP Speed Index is based on data from the more than 50 million Netflix members worldwide who view over 1 billion hours of TV shows and movies streaming from Netflix each month,” Netflix explains. “The listed speeds reflect the average performance during prime time of all Netflix streams on each ISP’s network and are an indicator of the performance typically experienced across all users on an ISP network. A faster network generally means a better picture quality, quicker start times and fewer interruptions.”
It adds, “Note: The average performance is 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.”
You can see Canada’s list here.
Image via Netflix