Netflix Confirms Deal For Access To Verizon's Network 135
An anonymous reader writes "Netflix [on Monday] confirmed that it has reached a deal to gain itself access to Verizon's network. This deal is similar to the one that Netflix already made with Comcast and should improve streaming video quality for Verizon customers. Readers should note that Netflix is paying Verizon and Comcast only to gain access to its networks by by-passing third-party transit providers like Cogent and Level 3. If the FCC's new proposal passes, ISPs like Verizon and Comcast could also charge Netflix for faster direct connections to its customers over the last mile."
Re:Where's my rate cut? (Score:4, Interesting)
Not news. Netflix bought net connection like us (Score:5, Interesting)
The fact that Slashdot is treating this as news seems to be confusing some people. Netflix just bought bandwidth from Verizon service, just like a million other people do. You pay for your connection, Netflix pays for theirs.
As the summary mentions, but apparently not clearly enough, this has nothing whatsoever to do with net neutrality. Netflix was getting a connection from Cogent (like I do). Now they are getting a connection from Verizon.
Since they use a lot of bandwidth to alot of places, they buy connections from several ISPs, again just like I do, and everyone else who runs popular web sites. That's how it's done and how it's always been done. The only thing new is that Netflix is whining about paying their bills.
Re:Where's my rate cut? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's even worse than that. The big monopolies know that the "bad connection issues" aren't likely to blow up in their faces - or, if they do, customers will be powerless to do something about it. If you're Joe User and Netflix won't stream, chances are you'll blame one of two entities: Netflix or your ISP.
If you blame Netflix, you can put pressure on Netflix by threatening to leave. After all, there are competing services such as Amazon Prime. (You can argue that said services might not be as good as Netflix, but they are still alternatives.) So Netflix would feel pressure to do whatever it takes to get the connection "working" again, even if it meant paying the ISP's fast lane bribery fee.
If you blame your ISP, you can try to threaten to leave, but your ISP will just laugh at you. Most Americans have only one or two ISPs in their area. If you leave the one and the other does the same thing, what option do you have? And if you only have access to one ISP, what option do you have? You can ditch all Internet access, but the ISPs know you won't do that. So you're forced to grumble and complain online, but still pay whatever the ISP demands you pay for the level of service they deign to provide you.
The ISPs are essentially playing a game of chicken with Netflix except the ISPs are in an armored SUV and Netflix is riding a bicycle.
Re:Not news. Netflix bought net connection like us (Score:3, Interesting)
yeah, cogent agreed to deliver a lot of data from netflix knowing they didn't have the bandwidth on the ISP sides of their networks to actually deliver it
and if you read the news last year, they refused to upgrade those connections and cried network neutrality
Re:Not news. Netflix bought net connection like us (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not sure you've entirely grocked the idea of an "Internet" and are confusing it with an "Intranet".
Verizon has advertized that I can buy X amount of internet connection, and then (deliberately) failed to create the upstream connections to deliver on that promise. Netflix, one of those up-stream providers who pays Cogent for access to the internet, is now having to pay Verizon for access to its intranet which, according to my earlier statement, is supposed to be internet.
Now we all realize that bandwidth upstream isn't infinite. If everybody and their brother decided to attach to my server at home, they cannot expect that only their paid-for internet connection would determine their connection speed (as mine would come into play), and even at a peering level, congestion is an inevitability at some point.
But the goal of Verizon, in servicing its customers, is *supposed* to be doing the best it can to provide promised internet badnwith to locations that its customers are tyring to reach. We know they will not succeed perfectly.
The issue is when Verison begins to, for the sake of profit, selectively limit peering. They are no longer attempting to fulfill their promise to give me internet access at a given bandwidth. It is this willfulness that moves us from "the way the thing works" to our gripe with the way the major ISPs are operating.
Let me put this in a different context. If TWC suddenly solved all its problems with NetFlix in my area, and if the public at large was aware of this, there would be a migration from Verizon to TWC. At that point, Verizon would suddenly improve its peeing with Netflix.
The only reason they did not, is because they are duopoly and so did not have to. That's pretty-much the bright-line test for whether there is abuse.
ISPs should be common carrier.