Google’s YouTube Video Quality Report Exposes Sub-Par Internet Service Providers

[Shankapotomus]

I don't know if Forbes is an acceptable site for DU but they were the only place I could find a complete story on it.

There has been a lot of discussion lately about net neutrality, the state of broadband in the U.S., and dubious deals between large Internet Service Providers and providers of on-demand video streaming—I’m talking about you Comcast CMCSA +0.23% and Netflix NFLX +0.59%. How it all shakes out in the long terms is still anyone’s guess, but in the meantime, Google has just released a new tool for YouTube that makes it incredibly easy for anyone to determine if their ISP is up to snuff.

Google’s Video Quality Report tool (available here) detects your location and ISP and displays a graph that shows what percentage of videos streamed properly in high or standard definition, and at what times the network was most congested, using daily video activity averages over the last 30 days. In a blog post that explains how to find and use the new tool, Google says, “Starting today, if you’re in the U.S., you can use the Google Video Quality Report to see the level of video quality your Internet service provider can play YouTube. If you’re regularly seeing videos buffer, this report can give you a better idea of why, as well as tips to make YouTube play better. You can also see the video quality other ISPs in your area are delivering…” It’s that last part there that’s interesting, don’t you think?

When you attempt to stream a video from a site like YouTube, Google receives your request and then

continue to source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/05/31/googles-youtube-video-quality-report-exposes-sub-par-internet-service-providers/

Or you can go directly to Google's Video Quality Report page:

http://www.google.com/get/videoqualityreport/

P.S. I'm sure a lot of people at DU, like me, are trying to wean themselves off Google products. YouTube, I imagine, will be the hardest to give up. But, in the meantime, this is a good way to play large corporations off of each other in order to expose them.

[RKP5637]

1. Thanks for posting this. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, it was HD. n/t

[L0oniX]

2. Brighthouse is restricting 3D movies from streaming on Netflix.

[PSPS]

3. I think Century Link is having network/capacity issues

This was affecting CL customers' ability to get DU but was supposedly fixed a couple of weeks ago as noted here:

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10134089

However, I think the problems with Century Link are continuing. On my CL connection, DU is still hit and miss and YouTube or other streaming services, regardless of the time of day, will stall, stop or buffer constantly. However, if I switch over to a Comcast circuit, everything works just fine.

I guess this is the price one pays to be subservient to the "invisible hand." We're definitely third world when it comes to Internet service.

[msongs]

4. my time warner gets a good score. theyve raised the price 3X the past 2 yrs nt