Belgium climbs to third place in Netflix’s ISP speed index

Belgium overtook Luxembourg as Netflix’s third-fastest global ISP market, as Switzerland and the Netherlands held their respective first and second places.

Netflix’s monthly ISP Speed Index found that Belgium’s average web speed stayed the same month-on-month in May at 3.79 Megabits per second (Mbps), but the country climbed in the rankings as Luxembourg’s average dropped slightly to 3.77 Mbps.

First place Switzerland’s average came in at 3.93 Mbps and the Netherlands’ at 3.82 Mbps – both down marginally from 3.96 Mbps and 3.85 Mbps in April.

Meanwhile, Sweden moved into the top five fastest countries, compared to seventh place a month earlier, with an average speed of 3.7 Mbps.

Denmark, Norway and Germany ranked sixth, seventh and eighth respectively in May, with only two non-European countries making it into the top 10 – New Zealand and Singapore, each with an average speed of 3.49 Mbps.

“The US performance at the top-end of the index has converged to a level of very good quality, with the top four ISPs delivering average monthly speeds between 3.65 Megabits per second (Mbps) and 3.61 Mbps,” said Netflix.

The Netflix ISP Speed Index is a measure of prime time Netflix performance on a particular ISP, with faster performance generally equating to better picture quality, quicker start times and fewer interruptions.