Netflix has for years provided reports about the quality of networks and how that’ll affect your ability to stream video, and now Google is getting in the game with their Video Quality Report, which lets you know how a provider’s doing and what level quality of video you can count on when watching video.
I’m one of the lucky ones, as Cablevision’s Optimum Service gets high marks on both the new Google report and Netflix’s most recent rankings; Optimum was one of the top providers on the charts for Netflix, while Google (which prefers to simply identify how often an HD stream can be achieved, and score on that basis) calls Optimum HD Verified, with HD streams able to be achieved more than 90 percent of the time, even at peak times.
There’s more to it than just providing rankings, as The Verge reports: Google is using this entry point to educate people on how video gets transmitted on the Internet, and why some may have worse results than others (and how it can be fixed).
With Net Neutrality and all the various issues that surround the topic a growing concern, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more companies release data publicly as a way to show customers which ISPs are underperforming relative to their peers.
Netflix recently signed a deal with Comcast that was aimed at boosting speeds after a massive drop was seen in the quality of video and bandwidth being achieved for Comcast customers in the preceding months, and the end result was an immediate jump in quality for Comcast users. Whether such deals should be necessary is what’s being debated, and both sides are digging in their heels, as there’s a massive amount at stake for all parties.