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> Why AT&T wants bandwidth to appear lower than reality is a mystery to me, but I digress For you a speed test is just once in a life time event. For a wirele

> Why AT&T wants bandwidth to appear lower than reality is a mystery to me, but I digress For you a speed test is just once in a life time event. For a wireless provider this is a thing what clogs the shared media of a radio channel for quite a lot (modern speed tests try to push 100 or even more MBytes?) and cause a disruption for everyone else on the same channel. I don't know why ATT throttles (if at all, not a customer) that site, but wire and wireless providers are different.

DanAtC 4y ago
fast.com was created by Netflix to show if your ISP was throttling Netflix traffic. A lot of mobile services (at least in the US) offer "unlimited streaming" which is really just bandwidth-limited to offer SD-quality streams and offer "HD" (read: less-limited) streaming as a paid add-on.
dublinben 4y ago
>For Netflix, part of the message is: If you’ve got a bandwidth problem, don’t blame us — blame your ISP.[0] This coverage from when Netflix launched Fast.com in 2016 alludes to the reason why the results on Fast.com may be slower than on something like Speedtest.net. ISPs like AT&T throttle connections to streaming video providers like Netflix, in order to force a lower quality stream. By offering a speed test from the same infrastructure that delivers your TV show, they are revealing the 'traffic shaping' that is degrading your connection. Sites like Speedtest.net are all excluded from this throttling, so it will always appear that you are getting 'full speed' when testing your connection. [0] https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/netflix-fast-internet-speed-test-1201777840/ https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/netflix-fast-internet-...
- fjni 4y ago
  I never thought about this much, but what's interesting is that there's a missed opportunity for collaboration here. I think most ISPs throttle known streaming sites (netflix, youtube, etc.) by default for mobile plans. Some even advertise it [1]. And really what the ISPs have noticed is that if you throttle the throughput, the streaming services will switch to a lower quality stream (e.g. 720 or even 480 instead of 1080p) to allow for non-lagging streams. So in some weird way the streaming sites are the ones that provided the tool and the ISPs figured out how to exploit it. The two could have just worked together on a solution. Here they are pointing the finger at each other. ISPs don't want to have default 1080p streams for 4" device screens (which makes sense,) and streaming services don't want their network traffic throttled (which also makes sense.) [1] https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/binge-on-streaming-video https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/binge-on-streaming-video
  - vitus 4y ago
    > The two could have just worked together on a solution. We do...? Google Global Cache [0] and Netflix Open Connect [1] are both the result of ISP partnerships wherein we deploy cache nodes in the ISP's datacenter to reduce network load and improve our users' viewing experience. Whether a specific ISP chooses to partner with us or not (and the breadth of their deployment) depends on their willingness to sign the relevant contracts. [0] https://support.google.com/interconnect/answer/9058809?hl=en https://support.google.com/interconnect/answer/9058809?hl=en [1] https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/ https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/
    - fjni 4y ago
      I didn't know about that. That's cool.

DanAtC 4y ago

fast.com was created by Netflix to show if your ISP was throttling Netflix traffic. A lot of mobile services (at least in the US) offer "unlimited streaming" which is really just bandwidth-limited to offer SD-quality streams and offer "HD" (read: less-limited) streaming as a paid add-on.

dublinben 4y ago

>For Netflix, part of the message is: If you’ve got a bandwidth problem, don’t blame us — blame your ISP.[0] This coverage from when Netflix launched Fast.com in 2016 alludes to the reason why the results on Fast.com may be slower than on something like Speedtest.net. ISPs like AT&T throttle connections to streaming video providers like Netflix, in order to force a lower quality stream. By offering a speed test from the same infrastructure that delivers your TV show, they are revealing the 'traffic shaping' that is degrading your connection. Sites like Speedtest.net are all excluded from this throttling, so it will always appear that you are getting 'full speed' when testing your connection. [0] https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/netflix-fast-internet-speed-test-1201777840/ https://variety.com/2016/digital/news/netflix-fast-internet-...

fjni 4y ago
I never thought about this much, but what's interesting is that there's a missed opportunity for collaboration here. I think most ISPs throttle known streaming sites (netflix, youtube, etc.) by default for mobile plans. Some even advertise it [1]. And really what the ISPs have noticed is that if you throttle the throughput, the streaming services will switch to a lower quality stream (e.g. 720 or even 480 instead of 1080p) to allow for non-lagging streams. So in some weird way the streaming sites are the ones that provided the tool and the ISPs figured out how to exploit it. The two could have just worked together on a solution. Here they are pointing the finger at each other. ISPs don't want to have default 1080p streams for 4" device screens (which makes sense,) and streaming services don't want their network traffic throttled (which also makes sense.) [1] https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/binge-on-streaming-video https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/binge-on-streaming-video
- vitus 4y ago
  > The two could have just worked together on a solution. We do...? Google Global Cache [0] and Netflix Open Connect [1] are both the result of ISP partnerships wherein we deploy cache nodes in the ISP's datacenter to reduce network load and improve our users' viewing experience. Whether a specific ISP chooses to partner with us or not (and the breadth of their deployment) depends on their willingness to sign the relevant contracts. [0] https://support.google.com/interconnect/answer/9058809?hl=en https://support.google.com/interconnect/answer/9058809?hl=en [1] https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/ https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/
  - fjni 4y ago
    I didn't know about that. That's cool.