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That’s a feature, not a bug. It was originally created in the context of the net neutrality debate. This allows you to see if your ISP is cheating you on Netfli
by nothrabannosir 8y ago
That’s a feature, not a bug. It was originally created in the context of the net neutrality debate. This allows you to see if your ISP is cheating you on Netflix bandwidth, supposedly in order to push their own media-on-demand product.
It was introduced after reports of ISPs doing just that, and it was Netflix’ way of hitting back.
- headmelted 8y agoIs Netflix sending the video data from Fast.com, though? If not then they could very well be fudging the numbers for Fast.com and not Netflix proper. It may not be common or even legal in the US (I really don't know), but in the UK traffic shaping is commonplace, even in instances where the package has been described as "Unlimited".
- nothrabannosir 8y agoYes, open the debug console and see for yourself ;) ...ntflxvideo.net ...ntflxvideo.net ...ntflxvideo.net ...ntflxvideo.net etc.
- chinathrow 8y agoIt's the opposit: they use video data as test data for fast.com, served from CDNs or open cache or whatever is closest.
- xaldir 8y agoI think they are doing clever stuff to mimic real netflix traffic. You can see various request to *.nflxvideo.net
- Aissen 8y agoIndeed, and it's a wonderful, useful feature. So useful to consumers, that a french ISP (Free) wasn't very happy with it and sued Netflix for it in june 2017. I have no idea if this lawsuit is still ongoing, because Free seemed to have had a first peering with Netflix in April, and has been going up in the chart: https://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/country/france/ https://ispspeedindex.netflix.com/country/france/
- rjvbk 8y agoNetflix uses fast.com and their speed index as a way to extort ISPs into giving them traffic for free. They refuse to pay any fees to connect directly to ISPs and then they use that website to imply they are being throttled when the meager free routes they use get saturated, which is their own fault.
- dswalter 8y agoI know net neutrality is no longer law, but I think if you interviewed a thousand people on this site, you might be the only one miffed that Netflix isn't paying ISPs for faster routes. Put another way, it is my impression that consumers are already paying for bandwith. Getting Netflix to pay for faster routes would mean ISPs are double-dipping.
- rjvbk 8y agoISPs are neutral here, the problem is, once again, that Netflix uses a HUGE amount of traffic, and the normal routes (the ones everybody gets) get saturated. If they want "premium" routes for their MASSIVE traffic, they will have to pay to the ISPs. I think that's reasonable. Giving them premium routes for free would not be neutral, would it? ;)
- reitanqild 8y agoNetflix pay for their own uplinks. That is fair. They shouldn't pay for our downlinks, that we've already paid for. That would be double dipping or something by our isps.
- mimimihaha 8y agoI feel like this is a good explanation of the issue.
- corobo 8y agoEither their infrastructure supports what the customer is paying for or it doesn't. If the ISP is running crusty old routes they're slacking and customers should migrate away from them as soon as feasible. ISPs should provide connection to the internet for their customers in exchange for a monthly bill. How they do that isn't the customer's concern and it shouldn't be Netflix's concern. The only ISP Netflix should be paying is their own link to the internet (AWS last I heard) Side note, Netflix isn't using any traffic. They're not sending me a UHD video stream unsolicited. I'm using the traffic.