Bright House Networks and Time  Warner Cable were the big gainers in Netflix’s ISP Speed Index for August, while Cox Communications maintained its overall lead among major broadband service providers.

Bright House rose two spots, to No. 4 on the list, with an average speed of 3.57 Mbps in August, up from 3.42 Mbps in the prior month. TWC jumped three spots, putting it just behind Bright House, with an average of 3.53 Mbps, up from 3.37 Mbps in July.

TWC has a paid interconnection deal with Netflix. Bright House is currently benefiting from that agreement.

Among other movers, Verizon FiOS swapped spots with  Cablevision Systems, to take the No. 2 slot on the list. Charter dropped two spots (to No. 6), as did Comcast (to No. 7)

With smaller ISPs factored in, Grande Communications and Google Fiber tied for August with an average Netflix streaming speed of 3.80 Mbps, followed by Midcontinent Communications (3.74 Mbps), EPB (3.73 Mbps), RCN (3.71 Mbps), and WideOpenWest (3.7 Mbps).

Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon also have paid interconnection deals with Netflix. Several US ISPs, including Cox, RCN, WOW, Cablevision and Suddenlink, are also members of Open Connect, Netflix’s private content delivery network that relies on edge caches.

Cox Communications hopped to the top of Netflix’s ISP Speed Index among top U.S. ISPs for the month of June, while Verizon FiOS dropped two spots, good for the No. 3 position.

That was the highlight amid some jockeying among the nation’s top ISPs, at least when viewed through Netflix’s lens, which calculates its rankings by measuring performance of Netflix streams during prime time hours.

Those rankings, particularly at the top, don’t represent a huge difference in terms of average Netflix streaming speeds. But they do provide ISPs with bragging rights, considering that Netflix represents more than one-third U.S. Internet traffic on fixed networks, according to Sandvine.

Cox, with an average of 3.58 Mbps, rose two spots to claim the top slot, edging out Cablevision Systems (3.57 Mbps), Verizon FiOS (3.43 Mbps), Comcast (3.39 Mbps), and Suddenlink Communications (3.37 Mbps), which rose three spots. Time Warner Cable dropped two spots, to No. 9, with an average of 3.19 Mbps.

Cox, Cablevision Systems and Suddenlink are among the known members of Open Connect, Netflix’s private content delivery network that uses single-purpose edge caches. Netflix has also signed paid interconnection deals with Comcast, TWC, Verizon and AT&T (Bright House is benefiting from the TWC-Netflix agreement).

Clearwire, the only wireless ISP represented on that list, remained in last place (1.13 Mbps), ahead of Verizon DSL (1.83 Mbps) and CenturyLink (2.25 Mbps), which dropped two spots.

Under Netflix’s expanded results, Google Fiber remained at the top of the U.S. ISP heap (3.80 Mbps), followed by Grande Communications (3.73 Mbps), Midcontinent Communications (3.65 Mbps) and RCN (3.64 Mbps).

Verizon FiOS retained its crown as the speediest major U.S. ISP as viewed through the Netflix lens, producing an average Netflix streaming speed of 3.55 Mbps during primetime hours for the month of April.  

According to the latest Netflix’s ISP Speed Index, Cox Communications was next, with an average of 3.49 Mbps, just enough to edge past Cablevision Systems (3.48 Mbps).

Netflix noted in a blog post that streaming speeds over Cox’s network has been steadily increasing, up from 3.11 Mbps in November 2014.

Among other movers, Time Warner Cable (3.29 Mbps) jumped one spot, to No. 7, swapping places with Mediacom Communications (3.26 Mbps).

AT&T-DSL (2.32 Mbps) and CenturyLink (2.30 Mbps) also jumped two spots, while Frontier Communications (2.28 Mbps) dropped one slot, to number 13, and Windstream Communications (2.25 Mbps) dropped three spots, to No. 14, putting it ahead of only Verizon-DSL and Clearwire.

In Netflix’s expanded results for the U.S., Google Fiber (3.63 Mbps) continued to top all ISPs, outpacing Grande Communication, Verizon FiOS, EPB, CDE Lightband, and Midcontinent Communications.

Netflix historically has used its monthly ISP speed rankings to push Open Connect, its private content delivery network that relies on edge caching devices. The OTT video giant, however, has agreed to paid interconnection deals with four major U.S. ISPs -- Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and Time Warner (Bright House Networks is benefiting from the TWC-Netflix deal), and recently struck a non-paid interconnection deal with Mediacom.

Thanks to a paid interconnection deal announced in April, Verizon FiOS has surged to the top of Netflix’s ISP Speed Index for September, unseating Cablevision Systems as the best performer (by a small margin) among the 16 major U.S. broadband providers ranked each month by Netflix.

Verizon FiOS ,with an average Netflix streaming speed of 3.17 Mbps, rose nine spots in the rankings, up from the 2.41 Mbps average Verizon FiOS turned in for August 2014.  Verizon DSL averaged 1.68 Mbps in September (beating its 1.31 Mbps average for August), good enough to move it one spot ahead of now last-place Clearwire.

Among the other major ISPs ranked by Netflix, Cablevision’s 3.17 Mbps average was good for the second spot, followed by Cox Communications (3.04 Mbps); Bright House Networks (2.99 Mbps); Charter Communications (2.95 Mbps); Comcast (2.92 Mbps); Suddenlink Communications (2.91 Mbps); Time Warner Cable (2.87 Mbps); AT&T U-verse (2.77 Mbps), Mediacom Communications (2.68 Mbps); Frontier Communications (1.99 Mbps); Windstream (1.97 Mbps); CenturyLink Communications (1.92 Mbps); AT&T DSL (1.91 Mbps), Verizon DSL (1.68 Mbps); and Clearwire (1.03 Mbps.).

As jockeying position goes, Bright House jumped five spots in September, while Comcast and  AT&T U-verse each dropped two spots. Mediacom dropped four spots.  

Updated: A Netflix official confirmed that Bright House has an interconnection deal via the streamer's relationship with Time Warner Cable. More details are available here.

Netflix has announced paid interconnection deals with AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner Cable, and has urged the FCC to include peering deals into the discussion as the Commission pursues new network neutrality rules. Netflix’s preference is to have ISPs join Open Connect, Netflix’s private content delivery network that relies on edge caching appliances.

According to Netflix’s expanded U.S. results, Google Fiber was still tops, with an average of 3.54 Mbps, followed by Grande Communications (3.33 Mbps), Midcontinent Communications (3.24 Mbps), and RCN (3.21 Mbps).

Netflix spokeswoman Anne Marie Squeo noted in a blog post that the average Netflix streaming speed in the U.S. has risen about 500 Kbps in the last two months, averaging 2.72 Mbps for September. That puts the U.S. at No. 13th on Netflix’s nation-by-nation rankings, which has just added six new European countries to the index -- France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, and Luxembourg.

Switzerland (3.81 Mbps average) topped Netflix’s global raking, followed by Belgium (3.77 Mbps);  Austria (3.64 Mbps); The Netherlands (3.58 Mbps); Germany (3.52 Mbps); Sweden (3.39 Mbps);  Denmark (3.33 Mbps); Norway (3.3 Mbps); France (3.12 Mbps);  Finland (3.04 Mbps); United Kingdom (3.02 Mbps); Canada (2.86 Mbps); and the U.S.

Comcast rose two spots in Netflix’s monthly ISP Speed Index for April, making the MSO the third fastest among major broadband service providers tracked each month by the streaming video giant.

With its April coverage, Netflix also expanded to include Canadian ISPs, with Rogers Communications, which has been the topic of Netflix criticisms over the MSO’s metered bandwidth policies. Rogers is reportedly working on a streaming service that will rival Netflix.

Word of the latest jump by Comcast comes nearly three months after Netflix reluctantly agreed to in  paid interconnection deal with Comcast.  Netflix has since come out against the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal and has likewise called for “stronger” network neutrality rules, labeling such interconnection deals as an “arbitrary tax” on over-the-top video service providers. Netflix’s preference is for ISPs to join Open Connect, its private content delivery network that relies on Netflix-supplied network edge caches.

According to Netflix’s April rankings, Comcast delivered an average Netflix stream of 2.77 Mbps during primetime hours, up from 2.50 Mbps in March, causing both Suddenlink Communications and Charter Communications to each drop one spot in the rankings. Cablevision remained atop with a 3 Mbps average , followed by Cox Communications’ (2.90 Mbps).

Among other monthly movers, Windstream and Frontier Communications each rose a spot, while CenturyLink Communications DSL dropped three spots, to No. 12, and AT&T U-verse dipped one spot, to No. 13.

With smaller ISPs factored in, Google Fiber remained on top with an average of #.58 Mbps, followed by San Juan Cable (3.20 Mbps), Midcontintent Communications (3.07 Mbps), Choice Cable Puerto Rico (3.05 Mbps), EPB (3.03 Mbps), CDE Lightband (3.01 Mbps), and RCN and Grande Communications (3.01 Mbps).

April’s rankings also marked the first from Netflix in many months since it added Canadian ISP results.

Among individual Canadian ISPs, two fiber-based providers – Bell Canada (3.19 Mbps) and Bell Aliant) – were tops, followed by Shaw Communications (3 Mbps), Videotron (2.82 Mbps), and Cogeco (2.78 Mbps). Rogers Communications, at 1.67 Mbps, was last on the list, at No. 14.

On a country-by-country basis, the Netherlands (3.49 Mbps average) was the king of Netflix streams, followed by Sweden (3.21 Mbps), Denmark (3.17 Mbps) and Norway (3.06 Mbps).

Canada (2.52 Mbps) was fifth, outranking the U.S.’s average of (2.33 Mbps), good for eighth.  Costa Rica (1.18 Mbps) was last in Netflix’s country-based rankings for April.