Sure, your ISP says you’ll be getting an ADSL2+ connection, but how do you know that the service they’re offering will be able to hold up to every day applications like streaming YouTube videos, for example? Google wants to educate you about how good (or crappy) your ISP is, and has started ranking ISPs on their YouTube performance.
Its not in Australia yet, but the company hopes to roll it out for countries outside of North America soon. Lorde knows we could use it.
Google says that it tries to choose the most efficient route possible to send your video from its multiple servers to you, but sometimes that video gets stuck along the way.
Roadblocks may include poor configuration on the part of an ISP, a congested network or a crappy connection between the street and your house. Google will look at all of these things before ranking an ISP.
Here’s hoping we get it soon so we can name and shame! [Google]