4 ms·

Netflix Throttles Its Videos on AT&T, Verizon Networks

38 points by jackgavigan 11y ago

jkyle 11y ago
Paywall. USAToday is covering the story without paywall. [1] Quick read indicates they aren't 'throttling' they're serving lower quality (e.g. smaller) videos to mobile users so as not to use up their data plan as much while they develop a feature allowing users to select their own stream quality in app. Seems reasonable enough. They should have been more up front about it though. Edit Ok, now I'm confused. How does this story relate to the existing feature to lower your streaming quality? [2] 1. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/25/netflix-throttling-video-t-verizon-users/82248762/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/25/netflix-t... 2. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87
- jsight 11y ago
  Unfortunately those settings affect all devices and all connection methods. That often isn't desirable. Newer versions have a mobile data saver option, but I don't think they have rolled this out to everyone. It is a pretty annoying problem and I've never understood why they don't just provide the user with some simple options in the client.
  - seanp2k2 11y ago
    https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2fkylx/hidden_netflix_menu_to_set_quality_bonus_hidden/ https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2fkylx/hidden_netfli... Works on many devices. Try also: the konami code.
    - jsight 11y ago
      How do I do that on an Android or iOS device?
      - seanp2k2 11y ago
        Try this: https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2lh2xu/how_to_change_streaming_quality_in_netflix_app_on/ https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2lh2xu/how_to_change...
- iaw 11y ago
  Quick aside, I use this snippet as a bookmark in my taskbar to bypass paywalls: javascript:location.href='https://www.google.com/webhp https://www.google.com/webhp? %23q='%20+%20encodeURIComponent (location.href)%20+%20'&btnI=I' (remove the space after the '?' and after after 'Component')
omarforgotpwd 11y ago
This sounds perfectly reasonable
jaytaylor 11y ago
Pure clickbait.
pilom 11y ago
My full time home internet connection is a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan (I work full time from an RV). Unfortunately, some websites (like Netflix) try to be "nice" and limit quality or provide the mobile only version of their sites based on knowing that my IP is on Verizon's cellular network. This makes for a terrible experience for me on some sites (not many fortunately). There should never be throttling like this without an option to select quality. As data becomes cheaper more and more people are going to ditch their cable/DSL companies and just use mobile data and websites need to be prepared for it.
- AnthonyMouse 11y ago
  > As data becomes cheaper more and more people are going to ditch their cable/DSL companies and just use mobile data and websites need to be prepared for it. That isn't likely to happen. The demand for wireless data is more likely to go up than down. This isn't like fiber where you can just replace the terminating equipment and go from 100Mbps to 1Gbps to 10Gbps. To get more bandwidth out of the same spectrum you need more towers. As the density of the towers increases you have to reduce their power level to keep them from interfering with each other. So getting more bandwidth out of the same amount of spectrum requires a quadratic increase in the number of towers. That ain't cheap and somebody's got to pay for it. What seems more likely is that cellular data will get somewhat more expensive and people will strongly prefer to have wifi because it will be cheaper.
  - turndown 11y ago
    Do you have any more information/sources on this subject? I'm interested.
- iopuy 11y ago
  I also use a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan and Foxfi (to turn my phone into a hotspot) as my sole internet connection. I play xbox live, watch youtube, netflix, and amazon streaming, hbogo, etc all over this connection. I have never noticed any degradation in quality of content. I use approximately 200gb of data per month over the air.
Zizzle 11y ago
I wish they would throw a dialog or interstitial that would let people know about it. The more people asking why they have a "reduced quality" video in 2016 despite paying $90 for their phone plan the better.
paywallpaster 11y ago
UNPAYWALLED: http://pastebin.com/raw/KTF69Jja http://pastebin.com/raw/KTF69Jja

38 points by jackgavigan 11y ago

jkyle 11y ago

Paywall. USAToday is covering the story without paywall. [1] Quick read indicates they aren't 'throttling' they're serving lower quality (e.g. smaller) videos to mobile users so as not to use up their data plan as much while they develop a feature allowing users to select their own stream quality in app. Seems reasonable enough. They should have been more up front about it though. Edit Ok, now I'm confused. How does this story relate to the existing feature to lower your streaming quality? [2] 1. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/25/netflix-throttling-video-t-verizon-users/82248762/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/03/25/netflix-t... 2. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/87

jsight 11y ago
Unfortunately those settings affect all devices and all connection methods. That often isn't desirable. Newer versions have a mobile data saver option, but I don't think they have rolled this out to everyone. It is a pretty annoying problem and I've never understood why they don't just provide the user with some simple options in the client.
- seanp2k2 11y ago
  https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2fkylx/hidden_netflix_menu_to_set_quality_bonus_hidden/ https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2fkylx/hidden_netfli... Works on many devices. Try also: the konami code.
  - jsight 11y ago
    How do I do that on an Android or iOS device?
    - seanp2k2 11y ago
      Try this: https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2lh2xu/how_to_change_streaming_quality_in_netflix_app_on/ https://m.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/2lh2xu/how_to_change...
iaw 11y ago
Quick aside, I use this snippet as a bookmark in my taskbar to bypass paywalls: javascript:location.href='https://www.google.com/webhp https://www.google.com/webhp? %23q='%20+%20encodeURIComponent (location.href)%20+%20'&btnI=I' (remove the space after the '?' and after after 'Component')

omarforgotpwd 11y ago

This sounds perfectly reasonable

jaytaylor 11y ago

Pure clickbait.

pilom 11y ago

My full time home internet connection is a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan (I work full time from an RV). Unfortunately, some websites (like Netflix) try to be "nice" and limit quality or provide the mobile only version of their sites based on knowing that my IP is on Verizon's cellular network. This makes for a terrible experience for me on some sites (not many fortunately). There should never be throttling like this without an option to select quality. As data becomes cheaper more and more people are going to ditch their cable/DSL companies and just use mobile data and websites need to be prepared for it.

AnthonyMouse 11y ago
> As data becomes cheaper more and more people are going to ditch their cable/DSL companies and just use mobile data and websites need to be prepared for it. That isn't likely to happen. The demand for wireless data is more likely to go up than down. This isn't like fiber where you can just replace the terminating equipment and go from 100Mbps to 1Gbps to 10Gbps. To get more bandwidth out of the same spectrum you need more towers. As the density of the towers increases you have to reduce their power level to keep them from interfering with each other. So getting more bandwidth out of the same amount of spectrum requires a quadratic increase in the number of towers. That ain't cheap and somebody's got to pay for it. What seems more likely is that cellular data will get somewhat more expensive and people will strongly prefer to have wifi because it will be cheaper.
- turndown 11y ago
  Do you have any more information/sources on this subject? I'm interested.
iopuy 11y ago
I also use a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan and Foxfi (to turn my phone into a hotspot) as my sole internet connection. I play xbox live, watch youtube, netflix, and amazon streaming, hbogo, etc all over this connection. I have never noticed any degradation in quality of content. I use approximately 200gb of data per month over the air.

Zizzle 11y ago

I wish they would throw a dialog or interstitial that would let people know about it. The more people asking why they have a "reduced quality" video in 2016 despite paying $90 for their phone plan the better.

paywallpaster 11y ago

UNPAYWALLED: http://pastebin.com/raw/KTF69Jja http://pastebin.com/raw/KTF69Jja