YouTube launched the Google Video Quality Report, wherein users can see the performance of their Internet service providers in different cities across the United States.
The Video Quality Report, which was already made available to Canada a few months ago, classifies ISPs into three categories: HD Verified, Standard Definition and Lower Definition.
HD Verified ISPs are capable of providing consistent playback, without interruptions and buffering of HD videos with resolutions of at least 720p. Standard Definition ISPs, on the other hand, can only guarantee such consistent playback for videos of at least 360p. Lastly, Lower Definition ISPs provide slow load times and consistent buffering for video playback, even at video resolutions of lower than 360p.
The Google Video Quality Report also includes information on how many people are watching videos on YouTube for every ISP in an area, along with information on how the website gets videos to its users.
The report also includes information on what users can do to improve the quality of the videos that they watch on YouTube. The seven ways are: checking your ISP's quality report, making sure that other users aren't using up too much bandwidth, keeping your Internet browser updated, updating your browser's plugins, clearing the browser cache and cookies, checking if performance improves when you move closer to the Wi-Fi router, and restarting your router and computer.
The Google Video Quality Report is not the first report that rates ISPs according to their service. The report follows the footsteps of the ISP Speed Index by Netflix, which collects data and tracks ISPs across 20 countries. In the United States, Netflix crowns Cablevision as the fastest ISP with average surfing speeds of 3 Mbps.
Cablevision, likewise, gets great ratings in the Google Video Quality Report.
"Cablevision is committed to delivering the highest-quality Internet to our customers, and we are glad to be working with Google on the Google Video Quality Report, which gives consumers greater transparency into the performance of their Internet service," Cablevision said in a statement.
"This report ensures that Optimum Online customers will know that they're getting an exceptional YouTube experience, and we welcome these results."
Google admits, however, that the website for the report is not perfect yet, so visitors may not be able to view the results for their areas right away.
Nevertheless, the Google Video Quality Report will be welcomed by users who plan on acquiring or switching ISPs. ISPs, on the other hand, will be able to use good ratings in this report to improve the quality of their service.
