RCN, the overbuilder that provides
triple-play service in parts of the Northeast, looks to have faster Internet service than some of the country’s largest cable operators — at least according to one source.
In the
Greater Boston market, Netflix found that RCN’s average speed of 2.42 Mbps topped second-place Charter Communications (2.19) by 11% in the April-June period.
The Boston rundown was
Netflix’s first regional ranking of Internet service providers (ISPs). The digital video service offers a monthly national ranking and rundowns in foreign countries.
In Boston, RCN
also topped Verizon FiOS (2.15 average Mbps), Comcast (2.13) and Time Warner Cable (2.05). It also led FairPoint Communications, which was at a 1.59 average.
Netflix conducts its rankings
as a way to indicate which ISPs offer a better experience with its streams, including consideration of picture quality and speed in accessing content. It uses the average speed of all of its streams
per ISP, but suggests its rankings are a proxy for each provider’s general performance.
The regional rankings allows Netflix to rate ISPs that operate in limited footprints. RCN also
operates in parts of Washington, New York, Philadelphia, the Lehigh Valley area in Pennsylvania and Chicago.
In July, Google Fiber, Cablevision and Cox were the three fastest ISPs in
Netflix’s national rankings.
As a matter of comparison to RCN’s Boston average, Google Fiber was much higher with a 3.63 Mbps average and Cablevision was at 2.53. But
RCN’s 2.42 would slide in just below Cox Communications’ 2.44.