Netflix is the world’s leading Internet television network with over 62 million members in over 50 countries –including Costa Rica– enjoying more than 100 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films.

For the most part, members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected screen. The Netflix service aims to deliver a digital entertainment platform where members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. The only problem with this intent is that the broadband infrastructure of a region or country can severely impact the Netflix experience.

Netflix constantly monitors the performance and speed of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the world for the purpose of collecting crucial information such as peak viewing periods and quality of video streams. The results of this monitoring operation are made public, and The Costa Rica Star has found that our country comes in at the very bottom of the list of nations served by Netflix.

Just how poorly are ISPs in Costa Rica delivering the Netflix experience? To gain a point of reference, let’s look at Improware, an ISP serving the Swiss Confederation in Central Europe. The nice people of Switzerland who subscribe to this ISP enjoy average speeds of 4.43 megabits per second (Mbps) when watching Netflix. Costa Rica is often called “the Switzerland of the Americas,” but when it comes to video stream speed, the best option is Tigo Star, which at 2.18Mbps does not even deliver half the speed of Improware.

After cable ISP Tigo Star, the second-best choice in Costa Rica is Cabletica with 2.15Mbps, followed by Telecable with 1.54Mbps and ICE-Kolbi, which uses a confusing hybrid cable/DSL network, was clocked at 1.44Mbps. Wireless broadband provider Japi did quite well with 0.96Mbps, which is impressive considering the unique topography of Costa Rica, which proves challenging when deploying radio bases.

In North America, Canadian ISPs are better for the Netflix experience than those in the United States.