Vince wrote:Do you think that group is really going to be willing to sacrifice something important like their freedom?
Some have suggested that Netflix has taken these actions because the company is currently installing its own proprietary caching appliances throughout ISPs’ networks as part of its Open Connect program. If ISPs were to install open caching appliances throughout their networks, all video content providers — including Netflix — could compete on a level playing field. If, however, ISPs were to install Netflix’s proprietary caching appliance instead, Netflix’s videos would run the equivalent of a 100-yard dash while its competitors’ videos would have to run a marathon.
from here.Comcast did not throttle Netflix's bandwidth - at least not in the way most people think of "bandwidth throtteling".
Comcast had congested transit links. Netflix was just as much a "victim" (if that word applies) as anyone else who reached Comcast over the same path. Netflix paid to get another path.
But Comcast did not pick out Netflix's traffic and slow it down, leaving all other traffic alone.
That said, Netflix still had bad performance to Comcast, which made them agree to pay Comcast.
How much? That's a very good question.....
Where net neutrality falls down
The problem with peering, though, is that it doesn’t cope very well with heavily asymmetrical connections. Netflix, which continues to grow at a very fast pace, accounted for around 30% of the United States’ peak bandwidth consumption at the end of 2013. In recent months, as Netflix rolled out 1080p streaming to all subscribers, its bandwidth usage has continued to climb. Someone (not Netflix!) has to carry all of that traffic to the end user. Exact details aren’t available, but the basic gist of it is this: Netflix has exceeded its peering agreements with America’s ISPs, and so now Netflix’s traffic is being throttled. (Read: 4K Netflix launches: Is 2014 the year that 4K finally reaches mass market?)
One such example is Verizon’s FiOS service, where Netflix says its prime-time speeds dropped by a massive 14% last month. Verizon could negotiate a bigger peering arrangement with Netflix’s upstream provider (Cogent in this case) to reduce the congestion — but in exchange it wants something from Netflix (money, most likely). Netflix, for its part, wants to put its own streaming video servers within the ISP’s own data centers, cutting out the core network — but again, while Netflix wants ISPs to peer with these servers for free, the ISPs (Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, AT&T) want money.
Until an agreement can be reached, Netflix’s video quality will decrease as the service gains more users. At the rate at which the quality of service is declining, Netflix will probably have to cough up some money sooner rather than later. After all, its subscribers don’t know (or even care) what’s going on behind the scenes — they just know that they don’t want to pay for a crappy service.
At stake, of course, is net neutrality. Netflix argues that, if ISPs become the bullying gatekeepers, it’s the beginning of the end for internet freedom. The ISPs claim that they’re just negotiating as normal. Cynics (realists?) claim that ISPs have their own vested interests in services that compete with Netflix. In reality, following last month’s court decision that ruled in favor of Verizon against the FCC’s net neutrality rules, this will probably only end one way: Netflix will have to cough up some money.
I don't see how using proprietary caching would help that.
Do a search on "Netflix speed problems".
The caching would reside on the ISP's network (as the open source one does now) not on the Netflix network. If they're being throttled it will have zero effect on the throttling. If they aren't being throttled and everyone is using their caching tech (because that's what's on the IPS now), they will be in the same boat as Apple was when they "opened" their architecture back in the 90's but wouldn't release the full specs to vendors ensuring that no one built hardware that worked as well with Apple except Apple.TPRJones wrote:If net neutrality fails having their own system of caching will be the way to go. If they end up having to pay priority prices, you don't expect them to set up an open source system for their competitors to use along with them, do you?I don't see how using proprietary caching would help that.
So when Netflix went into an agreement with Comcast to tie their servers directly into Comcast's network rather than through and intermediary peer services provider, the speeds to the end user (on Comcast's network) went up substantially. This has a lot less to do with "throttling" and a lot more to do with basic networking and physics and electronics.TPRJones wrote:For every article you can find that was astro-turfed by the ISPs opposed to net neutrality, I can find one that shows exactly the opposite.Do a search on "Netflix speed problems".
FCC: "Oopsies, we accidentally lost 600k of the comments. Who knows which side of the debate they fell on? I guess we'll never know."GORDON wrote:Well, this debate is over. The FCC is blaming Netflix for implementing "Internet Fast Lanes."
[url=http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/02/fcc-commish-alleges-that-netflix-is-working-to-effectively-secure-an-internet-fast-lane-fo r-its-content/]http://techcrunch.com/2014....content[/url]
Nothing but good can come from this.TheCatt wrote:Plan to treat Internet as utility.
If there's one thing everyone loves, it's their utilities.
