Hey everyone, I'm really sorry for my late response. I was unable to use a computer for the past week for reasons unrelated to Verizon.
I don't think that this a result of network congestion. As my TMN results (https://testmy.net/compID/8826561511) indicate, my bandwidth is generally consistent during the evening hours.
editorsean, I followed your link and downloaded the Google Chrome installer. As you can see in the image below, I reached a download speed of about 25 Mbps (the dip in bandwidth was caused by traffic from other users on my network, as the Networx graph shows a consistent flow of data). Verizon isn't shaping HTTPS.
I will try using a different browser, but I believe that my YouTube issues are the result of throttling by Verizon. Verizon isn't the best ISP when it comes to net neutrality-in fact, I experienced this problem several weeks ago, but was able to watch HD Youtube videos when I connected to a VPN server. I complained to the FCC, but now, the problem has resurfaced. Google's statistics indicate that other Verizon FiOS customers in the area are also facing subpar YouTube performance:
In comparison, this is the YouTube performance of the other major ISP, Cablevision: