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Interestingly, the net neutrality ruling wasn't until last month.

I believe that's a few months after Netflix started heavily using Cogent as a provider, and thus Cogent's peering disputes with Verizon and Comcast began:

http://gigaom.com/2013/06/17/having-problems-with-your-netfl...

My company uses Cogent as an ISP, and remote workers have had nothing but trouble trying to use VPN and other connections back home via Comcast or Verizon because the Cogent/Comcast+Verizon peering points are severely overloaded, dropping packets at a 5%+ clip at some times during the day.

It can also be so simple that there is some pipe that is full somewhere along the way that will be upgraded eventually.