For Netflix users, better late than never...

Months after Comcast upgraded its subscribers' Netflix performance, AT&T and Verizon have finally followed suit.
The average Netflix stream on Verizon FiOS hit 2.41Mbps in August, up from 1.61Mbps in July, Netflix said today in its monthly speed test update. AT&T's U-verse service offered average Netflix performance of 2.61Mbps in August, up from 1.44Mbps in July.
Netflix recommends 5Mbps for high-definition quality, but there is a lot of lower quality Netflix content that requires less throughput. The boost in the averages indicates that customers are getting high-quality streams more often.
AT&T and Verizon DSL improved, too, but still lag behind. Netflix on Verizon DSL only streamed at an average of 1.31Mbps in August, compared to 0.97Mbps in July. AT&T's DSL average was 1.81Mbps in August, up from 1.11Mbps in July.
Time Warner Cable improved from 2.16Mbps in July to 2.59Mbps in August. Comcast streams averaged 2.9Mbps in August, up from 2.82Mbps in July.
Cablevision led the way among the biggest US ISPs in August with a Netflix average of 3.11Mbps, while Google Fiber led all listed ISPs with a 3.53Mbps average.
Netflix video struggled for months on Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable while the companies argued over whether Netflix should have to pay the ISPs for direct connections to their networks. Netflix says these are the only four companies that demanded payment and that 99 percent of its links to ISPs are unpaid.
Although Netflix struck paid agreements with the ISPs months ago, it took some longer than others to set up the necessary infrastructure.
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