Netflix’s ISP Speed Index for January 2016 saw some jockeying as Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable dropped several spots, while several other major U.S. ISPs saw gains, including Comcast, Mediacom Communications, Suddenlink Communications, and AT&T U-verse.
Verizon FiOS, with an average Netflix streaming speed during primetime hours of 3.88 Mbps, remained tops among major U.S. ISPs measured by Netflix, followed by Cox Communications (3.85 Mbps), Cablevision Systems (3.82 Mbps.), and Comcast (3.72 Mbps).
Bright House Networks (3.53 Mbps) dropped five spots, to number nine among major U.S. ISPs, while TWC (3.39 Mbps) dropped two spots, to number 10. Notably, TWC has a paid interconnection deal with Netflix, and Bright House Networks is benefiting from that agreement. However, Charter Communications, which is in the process of buying TWC and Bright House, has pledged to extend its "settlement-free" interconnection policy to those acquired systems, a decision that has received praise from Netflix.
Update: Netflix confirmed that there is no change in its relationship with TWC.
The bottom three among top U.S. ISPs were Windstream (2.50 Mbps), Verizon-DSL (2.10 Mbps), and CenturyLink (1.70 Mbps).
With smaller ISPs factored in, Grande Communications (3.98 Mbps) kept the top spot, followed by Midcontinent and WideOpenWest (3.95 Mbps each), EPB (3.92 Mbps), Verizon FiOS, and Google Fiber (3.88 Mbps).
On a global basis, Luxembourg led with an average of 4.12 Mbps) , followed by Norway (4.07 Mbps), Belgium (4.02 Mbps) , Denmark (3.97 Mbps), and Sweden (3.89 Mbps). Canada (3.55 Mbps) was ranked 12th, while the U.S. (3.5 Mpbs) was ranked 14th.
At last month’s CES gadgetfest in Las Vegas, Netflix announced it had expanded service to 130 additional countries.
