But see they have no muscle. I'll happily eat my words if this leads to some kind of mass exodus but I don't see it happening. Because in my admittedly anecdotal experience most people already don't like their ISP but are forced into the relationship because of various circumstances.
So while this information would have been worth its weight in gold as a threat to the ISPs its now released where it can do all the damage its going to do. If the impact is found to be negligible than Netflix has lost what little leverage it has over the ISPs.
Their leverage doesn't come from an increased threat of defections, which is obviously meaningless to monopoly operators. It comes from the promise of painful regulatory intervention in a monopolists operations, backed by the kind of massive and incontrovertible evidence no individual screwee could ever amass, let alone get in front of a court or the FCC.
Oh god how I wish there would be some regulatory action to stop all this horse trading that forms these local monopolies. I was stunned when I learned that cable operators actually trade customers and regions rather than competing.
Verizon FIOS looks like the best chance at breaking the monopolies' backs, but it seems to be slow going - I haven't had it available in any of the last four places I've lived in in very dense NYC and Bay Area, yet my parents in rural Maryland who live next to cows have had it for at least four years.
So while this information would have been worth its weight in gold as a threat to the ISPs its now released where it can do all the damage its going to do. If the impact is found to be negligible than Netflix has lost what little leverage it has over the ISPs.