What can we do to actually fix Verizon's Netflix throttling?

[Normx]

April 6 2014

Greetings,

I just received my proxyvote for Verizon Com inc.

What a shocker that Verizon has asked the shareholders to vote againts network neutrality, or curbing lobbying activity, or anything that might be benificial for the customer. As soon as Netflix cuts a deal with Verizon, speeds will change. Of couse, Verizon will blame Netflix, Netflix will blame Verizon,  for the cost increase you, the customer,  will have to pay.

What ever you do, don't cut the wire. Just keep paying, and paying, and paying.....

[DuneSleeper]

It won't let me give kudos to your comment, but I totally kudo you!

[DuneSleeper]

Mine just started getting bad a couple of weeks ago. So far, it is averaging 1 reload per streamed show. It is still very annoying. It just keeps getting more expensive while the service gets worse.

[TennisFreak]

So I am going to start a youtube campain with proof Verizon is throttling Netflix specifically.

Last night I tried a "proof of concept" test to see what would happen and it went exactly as I planned.  This week I will produce and post a full video of this to try and prove Verizon is throttling Netflix intentionally.

Here is what I did last night.  Also I performed this test twice once over my in house wi-fi and then again over my hard wired gigabit network with identical results.

1. Open netflix on xbox one and try to watch How I met your mother and then World War Z.

2. Experience approiximately 5 minutes of buffering for video to load.  Video begins to play for approximately 20 seconds then stops and buffers again.  

3. After 5 mintues of attempted buffering I give up and shut down the xbox.

4. Load Netflix on my Lumia 1520 phone connected to wifi.  Experience same issues as xbox one.

5. Open coputer internet browser and test speed on speedtest.net.  Recieve full 15 down 5 up speeds.

6. Watch youtube on my internet browser in full HD with no buffering.

7. Turn xbox one on and load youtube. 

8. Open youtube app and load video, experience about 15 secods and then commence to watch full HD stream of video.

9. Re-open Netflix on xbox one and try to play How I met your mother.

10. Experience about 3 minutes of buffering then stream loads in extremely low quality and plays.  Picture is pixelated and blocky.

11. After about 3 minutes of watching How I met your mother stream improves to what I would consider standard definition quality.

12. Disconnect my Lumia 1520 from wifi and have it running exclusively on LTE.

13. Open netflix and play exact same episode of How I met your mother simultaneously as the xbox one.

14. Experience approximately 10 seconds of buffering and stream commences to play in HD quality with no further buffering while the xbox one is barely maintaining a standard definition quality stream.

15. Re-connect my Lumia 1520 to local wifi

16. Open speedtest.net app and run test.  Confirm getting full 15 down 5 upload speeds.

17. Open netflix and try to resume How I met your mother episode. 

18. Experience almost 1 mintue of buffering before stream starts in a very low quality (almost below standard definition).

I know my test is no silver bullet pinning Verizon to the wall but I feel that it is more than adequate in showing that something is going on WITH VERIZON and not Netflix.  When you can watch Netflix perfectly on a mobile phone LTE connection but barely get it to play on a local gigabit hard wired network SOMETHING IS WRONG.

[monsterlab]

This sounds like a good test, and I've thought about doing something similar by tethering my laptop to my LTE connection and show how much better the connection is. The key is to do a traceroute while on both connections to prove that the route is exactly the same. I haven't done this yet, so I can't confirm. If the routes to Netflix's CDN are the same over both FiOS and your cellular carrier's LTE connection, then the argument that it's the Netflix's transit providers' fault doesn't hold water. If they are indeed using different routes, then it will be harder to place blame.

[monsterlab]

Let me clarify. The route will definitely not be the same, as you will be dealing with two different ISPs (FiOS and your celluar carrier), but if the END POINT on Netflix's end is the same, then it is hard to blame Netflix. I was in the mountains last week on a tiny little ISP's (Comporioum) connection getting a perfect 1080p stream from Netfilx. I get home last night, and I can't even get a decent SD picture over my 75/35 FiOS connection. Based on this, I'm finding it hard to blame Netflix.

[bbinnard]

If you look at the graph version of this chart at http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/results/usa/graph starting in Feb 2013 you'll see a steady decrease in Netflix/FIOS performance. And they still want us to pat $10/mo more for Quantum?

[Hubrisnxs]

I am sorry, I just wanted to point out that your test shows the opposite.  It shows that Youtube and Google have an appropriate amount of bandwidth where netflix doesn't?

it doesn't show that verizon is doing anything to netflix's traffic.

That same test you just performed, if you removed netflix from the picture, and substituted ME instead, would prove that I might have a DSL line or a really cheapy slow FiOS connection, not that Verizon was throttling ME.

[Hubrisnxs]

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@bbinnard wrote:
If you look at the graph version of this chart at http://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/results/usa/graph starting in Feb 2013 you'll see a steady decrease in Netflix/FIOS performance. And they still want us to pat $10/mo more for Quantum?

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funny how if you go to google / Youtube ISP rankings, you'll find FiOS Fully HD Qualified.

Wonder why google's and netflix's report differ.

Wonder why netflix's CDN Partners are so high in ranking where those who didn't play ball are rated low?

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[TennisFreak]

Hubrisnxs

Maybe you didnt read all of my post then.

Because I clearly stated that while Netlix was not playing worth a dang on my FIOS connection I could simultaneously load Netflix via my LTE connection on my Lumia 1520 and watch the same show in full HD with no buffering.