Following its test trial in Canada, YouTube has brought over the Video Quality Report to the United States, to show which Internet service providers are holding up their end of the bargain on high-quality data speeds and which providers are failing to meet those expectations.
Even though there are issues in Canada with Internet service providers and carriers, YouTube bringing this to the United States might be an eye-opener for anyone who wants to find out if their ISP is cheating them out of a good HD video and might even show misrepresentation of the service the consumer is actually getting.
Netflix has already started this ISP speed check, showing different ISPs and how fast their data speeds are on average. Google Fiber is ranked number one, with Comcast and Time Warner Cable slumping low and DSL providers coming in last place, with millions still running dial-up.
The three ranks, YouTube HD Verified, Standard Definition and Lower Definition, split the different ISP and packages nicely. In most photos we have seen circulating, it looks like Xfinity, Google Fiber, Verizon FIOS and a few others hit YouTube Verified HD and normal Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink and Cox hit Standard Definition.
We are surprised at how many services only offer standard definition and are unable to get up to 720p consistently. The United States is ranked one of the worst for Internet speeds to price, compared to most of Europe and places like Japan, South Korea, China and other Asian countries, that can buy gigabit Internet at a reasonable price.
Google and hundreds of other companies have appealed the FCC fast lane rule, trying to change the way ISPs offer their services and creating “lanes” for certain companies to go down and any other services that don’t pay the ISP go down the slower lane.
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