If you're a customer of Comcast cable broadband, you might have noticed an uptick in the streaming quality of your Netflix videos -- or at least an end to constant buffering and blocky video. Netflix released data showing that its bandwidth deal with Comcast has boosted average connection speeds in recent months, begging the question: Was it worth paying the toll?

Netflix showed a six-place rise in Comcast's speed ranking in its most recent monthly ISP speed index update for the month of March. Comcast now streams Netflix Instant videos at an average of 2.5 Mbps, compared to the anemic 1.5 Mbps for Comcast subscribers in January.

Netflix is touting the rise in transfer speeds, and thus the improvement in video quality, as something of a victory, as the company has long argued the benefits of hooking up direct network connections with ISPs. "This month's rankings are a great illustration of how performance can improve when ISPs work to connect directly to Netflix," wrote Netflix's Joris Evers on the company's blog. "In the U.S., the average speed on the Comcast network for Netflix streams is up 65 percent from 1.51 Mbps in January to 2.5 Mbps in March."

(Also notable,Google Fiber is far and away the fastest on Netflix's expanded ISP ranking.)

Is This Really a Victory for Netflix?

But the deal with Comcast was a bit different. That's because the deal came after Netflix subscribers on Comcast (also Verizon FiOS) began complaining about slow and unreliable Netflix streaming, about the time when the company's hotly anticipated original series House of Cards debuted on Valentine's Day.

Customers began to complain, and Netflix applied pressure to get a direct connection to Comcast's network. Comcast didn't budge until Netflix agreed on a connection plan, not through its own free, data-sharing Open Connect initiative, but by paying Comcast for a direct connection -- a so-called "paid peering" agreement.

The long and short of it is that Netflix basically had to pay a toll to get reliable streaming. At the time, many wondered if Comcast and others were throttling service, due to the court strike-down of the Federal Communications Commission's ability to enforce their net neutrality-friendly Open Internet rules just a month prior. Comcast wasn't, and the slow streaming speeds didn't have to do with net neutrality, in the usual sense.

But Netflix protested, with CEO Reed Hastings calling for not only net neutrality, but for a "stronger form of net neutrality" to prevent "ISPs from charging a toll for interconnection to services like Netflix, YouTube and Skype..." As we previously commented, the "strong" form of net neutrality advocated by Netflix is a bit self-serving: Netflix is the biggest bandwidth-eater on most nights in the U.S. And Netflix couldn't help but quietly protest (by linking to Hastings' post) while simultaneously declaring the improved speeds a victory for its direct-connect initiative. But if anything, it seems it's a victory for Comcast.

But Is It a Victory for Consumers?

Right now, yes. Netflix subscribers on Comcast's internet service are getting better video, due to the agreement. But in the long run, it might not be so great -- especially if the cost of interconnection deals get passed on to consumers in the form of higher monthly subscription fees.

Comcast subscribers: bask in the HD Netflix now, because your ISP -- which may become about 40 percent of the nation's ISP if the Time Warner Cable merger happens -- might have set us all down the road towards cable TV-level subscription fees for internet video services.

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