Netflix has released its March ranks of ISP streaming video performance. According to this latest upgrade, Verizon FiOS still tops all big ISPs with an average delivery of 3.79 mbps. Things change if you enlarge the list to contain smaller ISPs, where Midcontinent, Grande Communications and Wide Open West all overcome FiOS with lots of 3.82, 3.82, and 3.81 mbps, respectively. Netflix says the positions were affected by some encoding tweaks last month.

“That move as a group represents more efficient streaming on those networks because of our encoding work.”
That episode has been streaming at 720p — beginning at 910 Kilobits per second (Kbps) — and 1080p beginning at 1620 kbps. Netflix notes that the lowest bit rates for those same streams were 4300 Kbps and 2350 Kbps .

“By comparison, the slowest state we now track — Costa Rica — posted typical monthly operation of 1.87 Mbps in March.”

Note that large and by end consumers will not see much of a real difference between the top five broadband suppliers on the list, where businesses can be separated by a fraction of a megabit per second. Functionality may also change depending on whether an ISP has joined the Open Connect Content Delivery Network of Netflix, or if they have reached a direct interconnection deal with Netflix.