3 ms·

Peering was created because the two peers wanted to send each other nearly-equal levels of traffic. If we have a situation where one peer wants to send alot of

Peering was created because the two peers wanted to send each other nearly-equal levels of traffic. If we have a situation where one peer wants to send alot of traffic and not receive anything in turn, this is a problem settlement-free peering cannot handle. It's absurd to expect Comcast or anyone else to bend over backwards and pay for upgrades so that the other party gets to do this for free. None of them are obligated to peer. If we force this issue, we may get something that looks like a victory, temporarily. And then it will backfire on us. I keep getting downvoted on reddit because I point this out. There are people who claim "but it's still Comcast's fault! Netflix offered them servers to relieve the load"... Never mind the fact that placing servers in Comcast's own datacenters is something they rightly bill companies for the privilege of. No one is being sensible about this, or so it seems.

cobookman 12y ago
The funny thing is that Google, Viacom,...etc already pay for ISP datacenter access. Why should netflix get a 'free' pass? Totally agree on the peering aspect, and this is not a new issue. Comcast even posted a video explaining 'free' peering, but sadly took it down (http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/how-internet-peering-works http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/how-internet-pee...). As I've mentioned before though, imagine if you paid a per GB cost. Then Comcast would want more Netflix traffic, not less. Where-as in the current system Comcast could care less how much of your 300GB cap you use, hence them wanting to be paid to upgrade their peering exchanges.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 12y ago
  > As I've mentioned before though, imagine if you paid a per GB cost. Then Comcast would want more Netflix traffic, not less. Unless the cost of handling increased Netflix traffic outweighs the minor profit of per-gigabyte billing. Read my sentence above a few times if necessary.

cobookman 12y ago

The funny thing is that Google, Viacom,...etc already pay for ISP datacenter access. Why should netflix get a 'free' pass? Totally agree on the peering aspect, and this is not a new issue. Comcast even posted a video explaining 'free' peering, but sadly took it down (http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/how-internet-peering-works http://corporate.comcast.com/comcast-voices/how-internet-pee...). As I've mentioned before though, imagine if you paid a per GB cost. Then Comcast would want more Netflix traffic, not less. Where-as in the current system Comcast could care less how much of your 300GB cap you use, hence them wanting to be paid to upgrade their peering exchanges.

NoMoreNicksLeft 12y ago
> As I've mentioned before though, imagine if you paid a per GB cost. Then Comcast would want more Netflix traffic, not less. Unless the cost of handling increased Netflix traffic outweighs the minor profit of per-gigabyte billing. Read my sentence above a few times if necessary.