Netflix has published its latest list of which internet service providers are best for streaming movies and TV shows. It uses data gleaned by its millions of members to compare ISPs for real-world performance and will update the list on a month-by-month basis.

The chart for December sees Virgin Media top the pile with an average speed for Netflix streams at 2.16Mbps. O2's home broadband service comes second at 2.03Mbps, with BT - Infinity and all - at 2.02Mbps. BSkyB. TalkTalk and Everything Everywhere make up the rest of the top five.

"These ratings reflect the average performance of all Netflix streams on each ISP," says the media-streaming service on its blog.

"The average is well below the peak performance due to many factors, including home wi-fi, the variety of devices our members use, and the variety of encodes we use to deliver the TV shows and movies we carry.

"Those factors cancel out when comparing across ISPs, so these relative rankings are a good indicator of the consistent performance typically experienced across all users on an ISP network and a great way to see which ISPs offer the best Netflix experience."

Netflix has also released details of which networks are best to watch its content on using mobile devices on data plans. They're much of a muchness at present, with O2 and Vodafone offering 0.51Mbps, while EverythingEverywhere and Three are close behind with 0.49Mbps. As 4G becomes more widespread, we're sure the numbers will rise.

Of Ireland's ISPs, UPC comes top for the month of December, with an average of 2.11Mbps.