Tag: Netflix

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Verizon FiOS Customer Posts Video Showing Netflix Throttling

verizon throttling netflixColin Nederkoorn pays for a 75Mbps Verizon FiOS connection. That should be screamingly fast for streaming HD video, yet he often finds his video buffering and the quality regularly scales back to a mess of 8-Bit impressionism.

Connecting to Netflix directly, even a 320 x 240 resolution video at a meager bitrate of 235Kbps  will often stutter. It’s an insanely frustrating situation to pay for that level of service and not be able to watch even the bare minimum quality video without interruption.

The funny thing is, when Colin connects to Netflix through a VPN, his video SCREAMS, chewing through 720p streams at 3Mbps without issue.

To over-simplify, the VPN masks the final destination for Colin’s web traffic, which means Verizon can’t see that he’s pulling info from Netflix. Suddenly that “Network Congestion” evaporates.

This is of course one person’s experience, so we shouldn’t extrapolate this as a company-wide business practice without more evidence, but it certainly doesn’t paint Verizon in a positive light, especially after their recent feuds with Netflix over who is to blame for streaming interruptions.

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Netflix to End “Network Congestion” Warnings Following Verizon Cease and Desist

netflix-logoNo company has been working harder to illustrate streaming performance on different ISP’s networks than Netflix, and they’ve collected years worth of data on which companies are actually living up to their “high speed” claims.

This month’s speed report from the video service is chock full of all kinds of inside baseball info on what the relationship is like between companies like Netflix and ISP’s like Verizon. Following a controversial deal in which Netflix agreed to pay Verizon for more stable streaming service, we’ve actually seen speeds on Verizon’s networks dip, with their FiOS service now slotting in behind two DSL carriers. What exactly is Netflix getting here for their “Fastlane” money?

netflix congestion warning

Starting out as a test platform, Netflix started broadcasting “congestion” warnings, alerting customers that Verizon’s network was having difficulty streaming high quality video. This prompted a cease and desist from Verizon, and Netflix countered with this letter.

To ensure that these customers get the level of service they pay you for, it is your responsibility to make sure your network, including your interconnection points, have sufficient capacity to accommodate the data requests made by those customers. To try to shift the blame to us for performance issues arising from interconnection congestion is like blaming drivers on a bridge for traffic jams when you’re the one who decided to leave three lanes closed during rush hour.

Continue reading “Netflix to End “Network Congestion” Warnings Following Verizon Cease and Desist”

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Post-Play Netflix Streaming Comes to Android – Chromecast to Follow

netflix post play android updateOh happy day for folks who like to binge watch their shows on Netflix.

Announced on the Netflix blog, Android devices will receive an update allowing phones and tablets to Post-Play, which is a fancy way of saying that when you finish one episode, the next episode of your show will automatically start playing.

Best of all, we also have word that this functionality will be coming to Chromecast “in a couple months”. Now that most Android phones now have the ability to act like a universal remote, I might never need to leave my couch ever again.

Read the full PR below.

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‘Breaking Bad’ Coming to Netflix in 4K!

breaking bad 4k netflixNetflix debuted their Ultra-HD service this year with the second season of House of Cards, allowing viewers to watch the series with an image resolution four times that of 1080p.

Now Netflix has announced via their blog that the next series to make the transition to 4K will be Breaking Bad, giving me yet another reason to re-watch the whole series… Again…

Netflix recommends at least a 20Mbps data connection to stream 4K video, as the stream stream clocks in at around 16Mbps. Puts that “50 megs innernet” offered up here in LA into perspective. The future is coming, and our current infrastructure probably wont handle it well.

If you’re groovy enough to own a 4K TV, be on the look out for Breaking Bad in Ultra-HD starting in June.

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Netflix Hikes Price for New Subscribers, Current Users Stay at $7.99 for 2 Years

netflix price increaseWe’ve already heard rumblings of the Netflix price increase. New customers will see a $1 rate increase to $8.99 for unlimited streaming.

Confirmed via an email which was sent out today, current customers will have their $7.99 rate locked in for the next two years. It’s a nice gesture, and one which is appreciated considering the extra expenses Netflix might face fighting for Net Neutrality and negotiating bandwidth with carriers and ISPs.

To continue adding more movies and TV shows and delivering a great streaming experience, we previously announced that we planned to increase our price slightly for new members. That increase is happening today. We are increasing the price of our service by US$1 a month for new members. Existing Netflix members get to keep their current (US$7.99) price for two years, enjoying HD-quality movies and TV shows on any two screens at the same time.

Not bad at all as we’re also going to see a lot of new original content going into production soon as well.

More info on the Netflix Blog

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Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and More Stand Against FCC Proposed Rules

Nothing like waiting until the last minute right guys?

FCCWhile Netflix had been a common talking point for illustrating the concept of Net Neutrality, pretty much any company doing business online should be interested in how bandwidth is regulated.

Now the big boys are starting to make a little noise. In a letter sent to the FCC yesterday, 150 companies including those listed in the title of this post, signed on in opposition to the FCC’s proposed “fast lane” rules. The proposed rules will allow carriers and ISP’s to negotiate separate deals with individual companies for consistent bandwidth.

The FCC will vote on the proposal in one week. If you’re interested in voicing your concerns to the FCC and your elected officials, we’ve put together a contact list here.

You can read the letter below.

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Will Google and Netflix Publicly Campaign Against the FCC’s “Fast Lane” Rules?

Google_logoFCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced a proposal to institute new rules which would effectively wreck Net Neutrality by allowing carriers and ISP’s to charge companies arbitrary rates on their bandwidth usage. The proposal will be voted on May 15th, and has proven fairly unpopular in tech media coverage.

What’s been curious is the silence coming from various online entities like Google. Netflix has started making some noise on its blog, especially its recent deal with Comcast in which they agreed to pay the ISP more to prevent further de facto degradation of their service to customers. The silence might end soon however.

Reported on by The Wallstreet Journal, Google might be wading into the fight soon, as they would also stand to lose some significant fights if each of their services like Youtube and GMail had to negotiate individual rates with each carrier.

If they are going to start making some noise, they only have two weeks before the rules go to a vote.

Related:

Net Neutrality and Contacting the FCC (before May 15th)

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FCC Backpedals on Net Neutrality: The Death of the Fair Internet

FCCBroken by the Wall Street Journal, in a disappointing turn around from their previous position on protecting fair pricing and net neutrality, the FCC will be proposing new rules allowing internet carriers to negotiate individual rates with content providers for a guaranteed “high speed lane”.

This means a company like Netflix will have to undergo distinct negotiations with TimeWarner, Verizon FiOS, Comcast, and every other ISP, to pay additional rates for bandwidth and to reduce the threat of their service getting throttled.

ISP’s can also negotiate separate rates for different services, meaning they can be the gate keepers. They can decide which services will be successful on their networks. If they choose, blocking certain services from competing.

Say Comcast wants to promote their own video-on-demand service, why not quadruple the rate Netflix pays for a consistent data stream? If Netflix doesn’t pay it, you can throttle the service which will upset their customers. If they do pay it, chances are pretty good they’ll eventually have to pass those costs down to their customers also upsetting them. It’s a win win for nobody except the ISPs.

This could also have a chilling effect on innovation, as any successful start up which requires any consistent bandwidth will likely be priced out of the market before they have a chance to actually build a fan base.

The proposal was drafted by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, and will be distributed to the four other FCC commissioners Thursday where it can be amended. After the amending process it will be up for a final vote on May 15th.

For those interested, here’s where you can find contact information for the members of the FCC.

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