That isn't to say I disagree with network neutrality - I think it's vital. I'm just not going to attribute to malice what is quite possibly the result of incompetence.
So they've never actually browsed Netflix's offering then, huh? Because it's hardly stellar or offers much in the way big-ticket items that compete with anything Comcast shows in their on-demand or via cable channels.
http://toddbell.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Earthrise.jpg
And they're getting really suspicious about the grey parts in the bottom too. Better safe than sorry, right ?
There's a good chance you'll have the same experience with a VPS, depending on what networks the VPS's traffic routes through.
The problem is that traffic from you to Netflix travels through several networks, and at each link between networks it will face varying amounts of congestion depending on the size of that link. There is a link somewhere between $BAD_ISP and Netflix that, due to political/business reasons[0], hasn't been upgraded to accommodate more traffic.
By connecting through a VPN, you may be able to circumvent this as long as the route from you-->VPN-->netflix doesn't travel across the problematic peering point.
[0] Screwing you over; Promoting the ISP's own competing services (TV, for example); Attempting to extract payment from Netflix since its "their traffic"[1], despite the fact that you are already paying them for this connection.
I could rant about network neutrality... Comcast may not be (and probably isn't) doing anything to degrade Netflix's ability to stream to you; but they're probably also not making as many upgrades to peering or transit capacity as they could for that traffic.
It's hard to tell how often this is getting messed up by content delivery partners in the middle, versus intentional traffic shaping, but it sucks either way.
I actually never understood what the whole net neutrality discussion is about, as it's very obvious that we're already getting screwed over by ISPs.