Verizon FiOS Tops Netflix Speed Index as TWC, AT&T Get Faster Too

By Josh Long

Verizon FiOS customers subscribing to Netflix shouldn’t encounter problems streaming movies and television shows.

FiOS, Verizon’s fiber service, has surged nine spots to lead the Netflix ISP Speed Index in September with a speed of 3.17 Megabits per second, Netflix revealed this week in a blog. In August, FiOS registered a speed of just 2.41 Mbps.

Anne Marie Squeo of Netflix attributed Verizon’s performance to an interconnection pact “that uncongested ports for mutual customers.”

“Similar arrangements with Time Warner Cable and AT&T U-Verse also resulted in increased speeds in September of 2.87 Mbps and 2.77 Mbps respectively,” she wrote.

Although speeds rose from 2.59 Mbps (But Time Warner Cable) and 2.61 Mbps (U-Verse) in August, Time Warner Cable and AT&T U-Verse still ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, in the September index.

While FiOS led the pack of ISPs, Verizon’s DSL registered a far slower speed: 1.68 Mbps, ranking 15th on Netflix’s list.

The Netflix ISP Speed Index is based on data from Netflix’s base of approximately 50 million members around the world who stream from Netflix more than 1 billion hours of TV shows and movies each month, Squeo said. U.S. speed has climbed roughly 500 Kilobits per second in the last two months, she noted, averaging 2.72 Mbps for September. As of the end of the second quarter, 36.2 million Americans subscribed to Netflix.

Other Top Rankings

Cablevision-Optimum (3.12 Mbps) and Cox (3.04 Mbps) ranked among the three fastest ISPs on Netflix, with both cable operators dropping one spot from the previous month thanks to FiOS. For the last several months, Cablevision-Optimum and Cox have ranked among the fastest ISPs. Speeds are up modestly from May (Cablevision-Optimum: 3.03 Mbps) (Cox: 2.94 Mbps).

Comcast, which has been engaged in a war of words with Netflix over Net neutrality, fell two spots in September to No. 6 after registering speeds of 2.92 Mbps. Earlier this year, Comcast and Netflix announced an interconnection agreement upon which a more direct connection was established between the two companies.

Netflix has blamed ISPs for slower speeds and degraded experiences suffered by its customers, citing a lack of capacity into the ISP’s network. In a blog five months ago, a Netflix representative claimed ISPs have sought to erect toll booths to extract money from the company, essentially “double-dipping by getting both their subscribers and Internet content providers to pay for access to each other.” Comcast has said there is nothing unusual or unfair about direct interconnection agreements between ISPs and content providers.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering the debate as it works on crafting Net neutrality regulations and decides whether to ban so-called paid prioritization agreements in which content providers could conceivably pay a premium to ISPs for faster access to consumers who subscribe to services like Netflix.