> Within a few seconds, my Netflix stream topped out at 3000 Kbps (3 Mbps) and a resolution of 1280 x 720.
This confirms my suspicion which I mentioned in a previous comment in another thread:
> I think Netflix has a weird way of measuring bandwidth, unlike say the way Speedtest.net would do it. I've noticed this before when they compared Google Fiber to something like Comcast, and Google Fiber won [1], but was only slightly better, so I was thinking "that can't be right - Google's fiber is 50x faster. So why isn't that being shown here?"
I think Netflix just shows what's the "maximum" speed needed to deliver their service. It doesn't actually measure the speed of that ISP's connection. So all they care about in their test is whether the ISP meets that ~3 Mbps they need for a perfect Netflix streaming.
From the Netflix test perspective, as long as your ISP can hit 3 Mbps, that's a great ISP. I think we all know that not to be the case. If an ISP gets 1,000 Mbps, Netflix doesn't take that into consideration in this "ISP speed index".
> I think Netflix just shows what's the "maximum" speed needed to deliver their service.
Exactly this. Assuming your connection is faster than 3 Mbps, the number they are showing is neither the bandwidth your ISP is providing you, nor the instantaneous rate that bits are flowing to your home network. If you have a faster connection, they will send you large chunks of bits at a rate higher than 3 Mbps (upto 35 Mbps from what I've seen), and then send nothing for several seconds.
It seems that Netflix tops out at 5.8 Mbps and 1920x1080 no matter how capable your network connection is -- that's the highest number this test will produce.
These ratings reflect the average performance of all Netflix streams on each ISPs network from Nov. 2012 through Jun. 2014 and average performance during prime time starting in Oct. 2013. The average is well below the peak performance due to many factors including the variety of encodes we use to deliver the TV shows and movies we carry as well as home Wi-Fi and the variety of devices our members use. Those factors cancel out when comparing across ISPs, so these relative rankings are a good indicator of the consistent performance typically experienced across all users on an ISP network.
If an ISP is averaging higher than 3 Mbps, then their users are either watching more Super HD streams than the rest, or are able to watch Super HD more often than the rest. Of course, they don't include that data.
This confirms my suspicion which I mentioned in a previous comment in another thread:
> I think Netflix has a weird way of measuring bandwidth, unlike say the way Speedtest.net would do it. I've noticed this before when they compared Google Fiber to something like Comcast, and Google Fiber won [1], but was only slightly better, so I was thinking "that can't be right - Google's fiber is 50x faster. So why isn't that being shown here?" I think Netflix just shows what's the "maximum" speed needed to deliver their service. It doesn't actually measure the speed of that ISP's connection. So all they care about in their test is whether the ISP meets that ~3 Mbps they need for a perfect Netflix streaming.
[1] - http://www3.pcmag.com/media/images/381404-netflix-april-isp-...
From the Netflix test perspective, as long as your ISP can hit 3 Mbps, that's a great ISP. I think we all know that not to be the case. If an ISP gets 1,000 Mbps, Netflix doesn't take that into consideration in this "ISP speed index".