Netflix has released figures for January ranking Internet Service Providers delivering the best viewing experience for viewing Netflix’s catalog of online video titles.

At the top is Google Fiber, which comes as little surprise considering Google provides 1,000/1,000Mbps service to its limited number of customers in Kansas City.

Suddenlink saw the greatest improvement. The mostly-rural and small city cable provider jumped five points in January’s ratings, scoring 3rd. Cablevision’s Optimum broadband service jumped ahead of three rivals to score second place.

Time Warner Cable and Cox remained in the middle, while AT&T U-verse demonstrated that the benefits of a fiber network end when the remaining copper wire to the customer’s home comes into play. U-verse performed only marginally better than the DSL services of independent phone companies like Windstream and CenturyLink. Frontier managed some minor improvement, now scoring 14th place out of 17.

The worst performers: DSL services from both Verizon and AT&T and Clearwire’s 4G WiMAX network, which scored dead last.

NBCUniversal is scrapping the decade-0ld G4 network catering to videogames, extreme sports, COPS reruns, and young men in favor of programming targeting a more upscale older male-targeted audience.

The Esquire Network will launch April 22 in partnership with Esquire magazine.

G4 has never attracted a mainstream audience. Its ratings average around 130,000 viewers during primetime, making it one of the lesser-watched basic cable networks.

NBCUniversal is reportedly examining the performance of its second-tier cable networks which include G4, Cloo, Style, Sprout, TV One, and Chiller. Low-rated cable networks are at an increasing risk of being dumped by cable operators looking for cost savings. Most of these lesser-watched networks made it to the cable dial as part of broader agreements to carry NBC local affiliates or more popular cable networks including Bravo and USA.

The Esquire Network will rely heavily on inexpensive original reality shows including Knife Fight — a cooking competition — and travel shows created for the network by personalities from the Travel Channel.

Only American Ninja Warrier will survive the transition from G4 to Esquire Network for certain. Most of the rest of the network lineup will include reruns of shows like Parks & Recreation or off-premium cable shows like Starz’ Party Down.

Cable operators like Time Warner Cable are likely to take a second look at the network on news it will relaunch under new branding and a new format. Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt said in December the company is closely examining low-rated cable networks to control escalating programming costs and the rate increases that result.

Cogeco customers in Québec will find faster speeds and a larger usage allowance for most of the company’s broadband packages.

The changes took effect Feb. 1. Customers can get the new speeds by briefly unplugging their cable modem, resetting it.

• Express 5 now offers 5/1.5Mbps service with a 25GB monthly cap;
• Express 10 now offers 10/1.5Mbps service with a 60GB monthly cap;
• Turbo 14 now offers 14/2Mbps service with a 80GB monthly cap;
• Turbo 20 now offers 20/2Mbps service with a 100GB monthly cap;
• Ultimate 60 now offers 60/2Mbps service with a 300GB monthly cap.

“Internet needs are rapidly evolving,” said Ron Perrotta, vice president of marketing and strategic planning at Cogeco Cable. “We have taken into consideration the feedback received from our current residential customer base, and made the necessary changes in order to meet the needs of the vast majority of our customers and provide them with more competitive internet offerings.”

If Cogeco surveyed their customers regarding getting rid of usage caps altogether, the answer would likely be yes. But that is a question Cogeco does not seem willing to ask.

Cogeco offers different plans for customers in Ontario:

Another ISP Limbo Dance. How low can they go?

Telus, western Canada’s largest phone company, has announced it is slashing usage allowances as much as half and raising prices up to $8 a month on broadband packages, eight months after last summer’s $3 rate hike.

A sample:

• Internet 6 was $37, now $45. Usage cap reduced to 100GB, was 150GB.
• Internet 15 was $42, now $50. Usage cap reduced to 150GB, was 250GB.
• Internet 25 was $52 now $60. Usage cap reduced to 250GB, was 500GB.
• Internet 50 was $75 now $80.

A Telus spokesperson explained the reasons for the rate increases and allowance slashing:

It is only fair for customers to pay for the amount of bandwidth they use and be on a plan that realistically reflects their usage patterns; otherwise, moderate users end up subsidizing heavy users. Even with the change TELUS has some of the most generous usage caps in comparison to many other ISP’s. Most customers use only a fraction of the allotted threshold. Usage limits are put into place so that the small percentage of high usage customers to not impact the internet experience for other users on the network. We currently do not charge for over usage, but the thresholds allow us to ensure that customers are on an appropriate plan for them.

The rate increase is in response to rising costs in providing and maintaining the network. Since 2000, TELUS has invested more than $30 billion in infrastructure across Canada to provide our customers with some of the best communications technology anywhere in the world. These increases affect all clients, from TELUS employees to brand new sign-ups. All the pricing has been adjusted to the higher rate. In terms of price and quality TELUS Internet is very competitive versus our competitors. In most cases, TELUS services will still be less expensive than similar offerings from our competitors.

Most existing clients have already had the benefit of a promotion on sign-up. As with all promotions, including the current new client promotions, they run for a limited time and the discounts they offer expire. We do have loyalty programs in place for existing loyal clients and we do offer existing clients the new promotions in cases where they may not have received anything when they signed up.

Customers are outraged about the changes, particularly because Telus has been raising prices twice a year since 2011. The new rate plans are now comparable to Telus’ largest competitor, Shaw Cable.

Telus has not traditionally enforced usage cap violations on their network, nor have they imposed overlimit fees. But a customer service representative said “Telus can suspend allowance violators for 30 days for repeated violations.”

In North America, virtually every major ISP has watched bandwidth costs decline as connectivity continues to get cheaper. But that does not stop some providers from raising prices and slashing usage limits on a service most Canadians find they cannot live without.

Stop the Cap! reader Paul writes to share his dilemma with AT&T U-verse:

I have had AT&T U-verse broadband for three years and although the company has a 250GB usage cap, they have a completely dysfunctional measurement tool. It has never worked. AT&T tells me I should not be concerned about my Internet use for billing purposes. It seems pretty clear to me AT&T’s -only- interest in capping usage is, in fact, for billing purposes. If you ask customer service about why AT&T caps wired usage, they claim it provides a better user experience for everyone. But nowhere does AT&T ask customers to consider what they are doing with their Internet accounts. If this was really about congestion, why not ask customers to conserve broadband resources?

With AT&T, one of the largest phone companies in the country, it was never about congestion and still is not. This is about money, pure and simple. Their usage meters don’t work right, their billing penalty is a huge $10 fee for 50GB of usage (why not $0.20 per gigabyte?), and their service has tons of capacity once it gets onto their fiber network at the link up the street. Who are they kidding?