Google Exposes Slow ISPs With YouTube Video Quality Report

Ever wondered why your YouTube playback is so slow? It could be that you have a low speed broadband package, a really weak WiFi signal or a slow computer. However, these days with the advent of cheap fibre optic broadband and a tendency among ISPs to throttle certain traffic it seems infinitely more likely to be your ISP. Enter Google who have released their YouTube video quality report which reveals the results for your ISP in YouTube playback. Google is able to name and shame those ISPs who are incapable of providing a good YouTube experience. Currently the program seems to only be running for American ISPs but Google is planning an expansion of the program to other areas in the near future. You simply need to visit the mini website here  and click the “Your Results” tab, Google will then calculate your results based on data from your ISP and other people in your area. The results should tell you whether your ISP is capable of YouTube playback and at what resolutions (SD, HD etc). If your ISP is not capable of those higher resolutions then they are probably throttling YouTube traffic or have a lack of capacity (e.g. have taken on too many customers for capability of their network infrastructure). Feel free to share your results below!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH863XXRZEQ[/youtube]

Source: Google

Image courtesy of Google