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Netflix Streaming quality degraded over last few months in Plano, Tx?

The last couple of months I've been getting horrible connections in Netflix streaming to my Xbox360. Prior to that I would always get a 5 bar connection, but over the past couple of months I've been luck to get 3 bars. Many times the stream will stutter out and not be able to continue playing, causing a reconnection and really interrupting the viewing. I haven't changed anything in my setup and I have my Xbox360 hard wired to my router, so I have no idea what could be going wrong. I have the 25/15 service, but all the speed tests I've done have not gotten any higher than 14/14, and often are more like 8/10. Is there anything going on with Verizon's connections in TX?

Comments

saishi

I agree with this...for several months, I have been getting inconsistant quality... Once I checked the speed test and I was down to 5mbps (I have the25/5 plan). I have to refresh pages while simply browsing or watching youtube videos because of connection timeout errors. I also stream to my xbox from my pc and get errors saying the pc is not connected or laggy video.

I have not changed any settings, but I will be giving them a call soon (keep putting it off). It's annoying to say the least, esp when you are JUST surfing the internet!! It was nive to hear someone else with FIOS problems in Plano, TX..

stm2

I called in and tech support reset something on their end which seemed to temporarily clear up the speed test issues, but my netflix streaming continues to be really horrible. I called netflix and they verified that from their end they're seeing my connection at .5mbps or less. Following some of the dslreports forums with similar issues I've tried a traceroute to netflix's CDN service (hosted through limewire, as you can see from the traceroute) -- it consistently seems to get stuck after cdn-68-142-123-254.dal.llnw.net with no response. The dslreports guys seemed to think this issue was due to a misconfigured router somewhere between the ISP and limewire.

Bill_Kula

Verizon statement:

“Recent reports, have raised questions about the performance of a couple of popular video streaming services. In response, we state unequivocally that Verizon’s broadband Internet access services deliver a pristine user experience to our customers at any time of day on every day of the week. This has been repeatedly proven through independent testing by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which has conclusively demonstrated that FiOS Internet consistently delivers both download and upload speeds in excess of what we advertise. In short, our Internet customers often get more than they pay for.

“How the Internet works can be complicated, and consumers should be aware of the fact that the integrity of their home Internet connection is only a portion of the streaming video quality equation. If their broadband connection is functioning correctly, the source of their frustration and the content they wish to see may be one in the same.”

Verizon policy blog:

http://publicpolicy.verizon.com/blog/entry/unbalanced-peering-and-the-real-story-behind-the-verizon-cogent-dispute

Unbalanced Peering, and the Real Story Behind the Verizon/Cogent Dispute

By David Young

An article appeared earlier this week at GigaOM, in which the authors “blame Verizon” for failing to accommodate the growing volume of traffic coming from Cogent Communications, another bandwidth provider. Unfortunately, GigaOM didn’t have the full story.

Routine Business Dispute

The authors accurately describe settlement-free peering as “essentially an arrangement between two bandwidth providers where they send and receive traffic from each other for free.” It goes on to say: “the logic is that the data sent from one network to another is reciprocated.”

What the article doesn’t say, however, is that Cogent is not compliant with one of the basic and long-standing requirements for most settlement-free peering arrangements: that traffic between the providers be roughly in balance. When the traffic loads are not symmetric, the provider with the heavier load typically pays the other for transit (see our ex parte filing [PDF] from the 2010 Comcast/Level 3 spat for more info on peering and transit agreements). This isn’t a story about Netflix, or about Verizon “letting” anybody’s traffic deteriorate. This is a fairly boring story about a bandwidth provider that is unhappy that they are out of balance and will have to make alternative arrangements for capacity enhancements, just like any other interconnecting ISP.

Readily Available Solutions

Verizon offers a number of readily available solutions for interconnecting providers who send significantly more traffic than they receive from Verizon’s networks. Solutions such as cloud, hosting, Partner Ports and others are designed specifically to provide a cost-effective means of delivering very large volumes of out-of-balance traffic. Other large streaming video providers (and/or network service providers carrying such one-way traffic) are already taking advantage of these solutions and seeing immediate benefits. These solutions are available today to Cogent, Netflix and any other content or network service provider with similar traffic profiles.

Repeat Offender

Most commercial peering/transit arrangements are able to be resolved without controversy. Unfortunately, some parties prefer to grandstand, repeatedly creating a perceived crisis that could affect Internet users in order to attract the attention of policymakers and gain leverage in negotiations (we would add that this type of behavior is detrimental to a free, well-functioning Internet, and the tech media should know better than to encourage it). Policymakers should recognize that the Internet interconnection market has seen very few major disruptions over the past twenty years, and should allow it to continue evolving to serve the needs of Internet users and content and service providers alike.

anonFios

To summarize Verizon's statement: paying Verizon customers are demanding lots of data from Cogent (i.e. streaming lots of Netflix movies). This is requiring Cogent to pump a large volume of traffic to Verizon's network because paying Verizon customers are requesting it.

In turn Verizon is now demanding more cash from Cogent because Verizon paying customers are requesting that traffic. The end result is Verizon looking to make more cash off of their own customers' activities and/or using it as an excuse to quietly degrade the Netflix experience (but hey, they conveinently have their own Redbox Instant streaming service that I'm sure they would love you to subscribe to. It probably doesn't suffer from this problem either).

In reality, Verizon should:

1) Realize that this is on them and they are not providing the quality level of service that their customers are paying for.

2) Join Netflix's (free) Open Connect. This would both significantly reduce the congestion AND provide even higher quality Netflix service. (Hint: Your paying customers would love you if you did this, Verizon)

SweetleDee

We canceled Netflix, went with the $9.50 HBO package. All was great for two weeks, then HBO Go streaming went to hell. Verizon gave us a big monthly discount, but HBO GO streaming continues to be terrible over a PC.

anonFios

@SweetleDee wrote:
We canceled Netflix, went with the $9.50 HBO package. All was great for two weeks, then HBO Go streaming went to hell. Verizon gave us a big monthly discount, but HBO GO streaming continues to be terrible over a PC.

This is exactly why this behavior by Verizon should be raising red flags with everyone.

Verizon degrades the quality of Netflix. Customer cancels Netflix and jumps to a service that more directly benefits Verizon. In this case it was their partner HBO. It could just have easily have been their own Redbox Instant.

While their streaming quality for HBO is apparently suffering, they had no problem offering you a discount to stay with them as opposed to going back to Netflix. I'm surprised they didn't try to sell you on Redbox Instant at the same time.

Namronorman

@anonFios wrote:
@SweetleDee wrote:
We canceled Netflix, went with the $9.50 HBO package. All was great for two weeks, then HBO Go streaming went to hell. Verizon gave us a big monthly discount, but HBO GO streaming continues to be terrible over a PC.
This is exactly why this behavior by Verizon should be raising red flags with everyone.
Verizon degrades the quality of Netflix. Customer cancels Netflix and jumps to a service that more directly benefits Verizon. In this case it was their partner HBO. It could just have easily have been their own Redbox Instant.
While their streaming quality for HBO is apparently suffering, they had no problem offering you a discount to stay with them as opposed to going back to Netflix. I'm surprised they didn't try to sell you on Redbox Instant at the same time.

Anon,

While reviewing prior bills from Verizon, I noticed that my May bill was the first bill to advertise Redbox Instant. May is the first month I started to really have Netflix issues. How curious...

jobear512

NetFlix from our Sony Blu-Ray was fine six months ago. During prime time it might pause to buffer once during a movie. However, over the past months it is unbearable, pausing ever two minutes to buffer. This is during prime time TV hours. We are forced to switch over to the Wii where the picture quality is much lower, but at least it streams without interruptions.

The Wii is wifi, and the Blu-ray is wired (100 Mbps).

So what changed with Verizon FiOS that NetFlix streaming for higher quality streams is unwatchable during prime time?

I have 35 Mbps down and up. Measured down speeds are actually slightly higher at 42 Mbps. That is more than enough.

Everything works fine during the day, but fails during prime time. There is nothing else in this house that would be competing with the Netflix traffic.

Very disappointing to see this just as I keep getting bombarded by Verizon to spend another $10 month for FioS Quantum (for faster speed). Hmmm, will that return my Netflix streaming back to normal...if I pay them more? It makes you think something is not quite on the level.

Namronorman

It won't. I'm 75/35 and Netflix sucks. It only takes 3mbit for the highest tier of HD on a non Open Connect CDN.

Namronorman

I'm not saying www.internethealthreport.com is the report that shows the state of major internet providers in the US, but it's still fun to look at Verizon -> Cogent and Cogent -> Verizon.

I was watching The Trip this evening on my Roku and it loaded in HD. About 45 minutes in, it stops playing and spends a couple of minutes to re-buffer. Once it does re-buffer, it's on the 2nd lowest setting. Immediately after this happens, I try to reload the with no success. I then try on my PC with no success. I'm sick and tired of this, it's **bleep**.

anonFios

You should look at what other service options are available and consider canceling Fios. That's what I'm doing now.

Namronorman

@anonFios wrote:
You should look at what other service options are available and consider canceling Fios. That's what I'm doing now.

Unfortunately, it's Comcast. But you know what? All of my friends in the area with Comcast have better ping times and zero Netflix issues. I'm just fighting Verizon on the ETF at the moment. Their retention department is full of a bunch of mouth breathers so I've escalated via other means.

Namronorman

Looks like I'm stuck at streaming 235Kbit on Netflix again and other services are suffering as well... Any word on whether there is a resolution in sight?

tns2

As far as Verizon is conerned, its netflix and COGENT's problem and they will do something when they get some bucks from them to handle the traffic.

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