The YouTube Video Quality Report, which launched in Canada a few months ago, became available in the United States today. There's good news for Comcast and Verizon and bad news for AT&T.

Similar to Netflix's speed rankings, the YouTube reports will serve to shame ISPs that provide poor quality, while bolstering the reputation of those that deliver high-definition, uninterrupted streaming video. One Google executive said this month that a good report can help ISPs "upsell" customers to pricier Internet services.

The report provides a "YouTube HD Verified" label to ISPs that delivered video at at least 2.5Mbps for 90 percent of streams in the previous 30 days. This ensures quality of at least 720p without buffering or interruptions, Google says. SD ratings indicate typical quality of 360p with throughput of 0.7 to 2.5Mbps. There's also a "lower definition" classification, with Google noting, "If videos load slowly or frequently buffer, even at resolutions lower than 360p, your provider is delivering Lower Definition performance."

I searched the tool for the top ten cities in the US by population (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, and San Jose.). AT&T wasn't able to get an HD Verified rating in any of them, even with its U-verse fiber-to-the-node product. AT&T U-verse got SD ratings in each of the seven cities where it was rated.

(Update and correction: While Google's tool purported to measure AT&T in all of the top ten cities, AT&T pointed out to Ars that it does not offer consumer Internet service in New York, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. We're asking Google about the rankings for those cities, but obviously this isn't very reassuring about the quality of Google's research. Google seems to be measuring something other than AT&T's U-verse network in New York, Philadelphia, and Phoenix, but it's not clear what. In the other seven cities, Google's tool claims to measure AT&T U-verse.)

AT&T did get an HD rating in the 11th biggest US city, Austin, Texas, where it's been upgrading infrastructure to prepare for the arrival of Google Fiber. AT&T is starting to hop on the fiber-to-the-home bandwagon, which should help it improve video quality elsewhere too.

I was able to search the quality reports for about 20 minutes, but then it stopped working. Google said it's having "a little roll-out bugginess," so you might not be able to view results immediately. A Google spokesperson assured me that the results the tool provided while it was working are accurate, although they could "change several times per month, as we're working to get it as real-time as possible." (UPDATE: It's working again.)

Comcast got the HD rating in all the top cities it was rated in: Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Jose. Verizon had a mix of HD and SD ratings, with FiOS fiber-to-the-home generally providing better quality than Verizon's DSL service. Verizon got HD ratings in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Dallas, and San Jose—even though it doesn't have FiOS in Chicago, San Diego, and San Jose. Verizon DSL got only SD ratings in some cities, including New York and Los Angeles.

Comcast isn't HD-verified everywhere. For example, it only got an SD rating in Boston. Verizon DSL was rated as standard definition in Boston, while RCN and Verizon FiOS got HD ratings.

RCN fared well, also achieving HD ratings in New York and Chicago.

Time Warner Cable, which Comcast is attempting to acquire, got SD ratings in New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Dallas. TWC was rated as HD Verified in San Diego.

Cablevision, which got an HD rating in New York, was the only ISP to be quoted in Google's announcement. "Cablevision is committed to delivering the highest-quality Internet to our customers, and we are glad to be working with Google on the Google Video Quality Report, which gives consumers greater transparency into the performance of their Internet service," the company said. "This report ensures that Optimum Online customers will know that they’re getting an exceptional YouTube experience, and we welcome these results."

Cablevision also works closely with Netflix, as a member of the video provider's content delivery network.

Google and Netflix have each argued in favor of settlement-free peering, urging ISPs to give content providers free connections to their networks to ensure better quality.

Google does have direct connections to AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon, suggesting that the quality differences have more to do with the providers' last-mile networks.