Steve,
I love that Verizon continues to point its finger at Cogent when it's much more than Cogent that is being used to deliver content to Verizon Netflix subscribers. I see streams from mostly Level 3 but also from NTT as well. Cogent, Level 3, and NTT are all congested with Verizon. Centurylink/Savvis is used for Amazon. That also goes downhill in the early afternoon/evening.
The above listed transit providers are all Tier 1 - just like Verizon. They all have major congestion issues with Verizon. If I use one of my office's connection - Above.Net/Zayo - I don't have ANY issues with those providers even during peak hours. Verizon is just pretending to be a martyr while pointing its massive red finger at everyone else. This whole thing is a joke and a sham to get other tier 1s to pay Verizon.
At the end of the day, if you pay for Verizon internet, you're actually paying for the privilege to be the product, not the customer. Verizon is using all of its subscribers as leverage against other ISPs - including tier 1s - to extract as much money as possible from both ends. Verizon's peering is terrible. The only difference I see between Verizon and Cogent is that Verizon is significantly more expensive than Cogent.