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Topic: Google

Netflix: Google Fiber is 'most consistently fast ISP in America'

Summary: Netflix showers praise for Google Fiber amid releasing numbers for the top ISPs during November.

Rachel King

By for Between the Lines |

Netflix has released a list ranking the major Internet Service Providers in the United States running its service -- and Google Fiber is at the top of the heap.

Ken Florance, vice president of content delivery at Netflix, lavished praise for the Internet giant in a blog post on Tuesday, describing Google Fiber as "the most consistently fast ISP in America, according to actual user experience on Netflix streams in November."

Everyone else didn't get quite the same attention. Here's more:

Broadly, cable shows better than DSL. AT&T U-verse, which is a hybrid fiber-DSL service, shows quite poorly compared to Verizon Fios, which is pure fiber. Charter moved down two positions since October. Verizon mobile has 40% higher performance than AT&T mobile.

To put this all into perspective, Florance specified that Netflix's user base of approximately 30 million members streams more than one billion hours of Netflix content per month.

Thus, he asserted that this data should be considered "very reliable" in how it compares ISPs in terms of real world performance.

Here is Netflix's full list of the top 21 Internet Service Providers running the online rental service during the month of November 2012:

zdnet-Netflix_Major_ISP_Leaderboard-480

Image via The Official Netflix Blog: U.S. & Canada

Topics: Google, Apps, Networking, Wi-Fi

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13 comments
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  • consumers need more data like this

    I am glad to see you posting it.
    krossbow
    Reply 2 Votes

    • Wow

      Love my job, since I've been bringing in $5600… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I'm making it online(Click on menu Home)
      .....http://goo.gl/u4xPI
      EmilyJennifer
      Reply Vote

  • It makes sense since Google is the last one in

    so it's using the latest technology. But as FiOS and others expand in the future, using newer technology, the numbers will shift back again. Then back again, ect.
    William Farrel
    Reply 1 Vote

  • I see something quite different

    Google Fiber (2.55) is not even twice as good as AT&T's old fashioned DSL (1.52). A simple doubling is nothing to get too excited about, and less than that, well, seems like no big deal, honestly.
    x I'm tc
    Reply Vote

    • Simple doubling

      If we simply doubled your salary, I think you'd get a little excited. heh.

      We need to make sure they are both in MBps, not Mbps.

      == John ==
      jgwinner
      Reply Vote

      • MBps, Mbps, doesn't really matter

        As long as you're measuring in the same units, it doesn't matter. Just like you can measure the speed of a car in miles/km per hour, but could also measure it in inches/cm per second, nanometers per microsecond, or whatever term used for distance over time...and as long as the 2 numbers you're comparing are converted to the same unit, it doesn't matter.
        spdragoo@...
        Reply Vote

    • good point!

      Maybe the limit is Netflix servers?

      We had both AT&T DSL and Roadrunner and while peak speeds for cable were higher, they were never high enough to make up for all the 0 bps periods. Comcast replaced Roadrunner and if anything was worse.

      We dropped Cable after hurricane Ike -- the DSL never went down, was back on-line as soon as I got my generator started. Whereas Comcast didn't come back until two weeks after the utility power was restored. Dumped then shortly thereafter.

      We've since switched to U-verse and it been way more reliable than cable ever was for video services, and a nice step up from DSL for Internet.
      wally_333
      Reply Vote

    • Issues

      First off Netflix doesn't use the entire bandwidth at a user's home. It uses only a couple of Mbps average though I've seen 18-25Mbps bursts. Usually MBPS means mega bits per second so I assume the capital B doesn't mean Bytes otherwise we are talking something else. My connection is rated for 30Mbps and usually 50 through Charter. I'm not sure what or how Netflix is measuring 2.17. Some average of many people?

      ATT DSL is horrible and Uverse barely squeaks out a couple of Mbps max. My LTE phone can do 15 synchronously. I know of people with 100Mbps Fios links.
      LarsDennert
      Reply Vote

  • Spam

    Why is spam getting in here?
    BigJohnLg
    Reply Vote

    • I see dead accounts ...

      .
      jgwinner
      Reply Vote

  • Who provides the fiber?

    Who actually provides the fiber that Google uses? I seriously doubt they install it themselves.
    n2add@...
    Reply Vote

    • not sure I'd care

      Of course, I'm still on 1.5 Mbps DSL so I'd be happy on anyone's fiber.
      frylock
      Reply Vote

    • Google is building it out

      Actually,
      Google is putting it in. They have completed the initial installation of the infrastructure and are now putting fiber to homes.

      http://googlefiberblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/google-fiber-installations-kick-off.html

      The above article points you to their information.

      Wish I lived there!! I hate my internet, love how they are changing the game.
      Chuckshurlow
      Reply Vote
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