When it comes to broadband speeds, ISPs have a sales pitch, and you have Speedtest.net. Want a real-world test of actual bandwidth? Netflix has released how fast they can deliver HD streams to customers on each U.S. and Canadian ISP. UPDATE.
After more consideration, this data seem a little strange, specifically because it's not clear whether or not Netflix is taking into account different tiers of internet service. If they aren't, it would seem that the numbers in their chart are simply graphing an average speed among users across speed tiers, which isn't all that meaningful in and of itself without a lot more data. If you want similar data with a bit more information (at least in terms of user satisfaction in specific locations), check out the previously mentioned Net Index.
When a customer starts one of Netflix's streaming movies, and it's available in HD, Netflix attempts to throw 4800 kilobits per second into that screen—at least, by the time the movie is up and running. Your computer or set-top box doesn't get the same exact connection every time, but the chart above is weighted to show you a broad average of speed available on each ISP. As Netflix explains:
As we use a number of
CDNs
, and our clients can adapt to changing network conditions by selecting the network path that's currently giving them the best throughput, Netflix streaming performance ends up being an interesting way to measure sustained throughput available from a given ISP over time, and therefore the quality of Netflix streaming that ISP is providing to our subscribers. Obviously, this can vary by network technology (e.g. DSL, Cable), region, etc., but it's a great high-level view of Netflix performance across a large number of individual streaming sessions.
It's interesting stuff, and while most of us can't switch between any of these ISPs, it is good to know what else is available out there, and how fast it really is for a service many of us actually use. The full-size chart is offered at Netflix's blog post.
Netflix Performance on Top ISP Networks [Netflix Blog via ReadWriteWeb]