Charter To Reduce Mobile Video Streaming Resolution for Some Customers (lightreading.com) 35
Charter Communications confirmed to Light Reading it will lower the default video streaming resolution for its Unlimited Plus mobile customers to 480p from 720p starting in December. From a report: Charter's default setting for customers on its other By The Gig and Unlimited mobile plans is already set at 480p. The company said its Unlimited Plus mobile customers can change their default streaming setting back from 480p to 720p using the company's My Spectrum App for no extra charge. Further, the change will not affect customers who are connected to Wi-Fi. When customers are on Wi-Fi, the video streaming resolution among Charter's Spectrum Mobile customers is determined by the format of the video content the customer is streaming and the capabilities and settings of their device, according to the company.
Another reasons for VPNs (Score:2)
Re:Another reasons for VPNs (Score:4, Interesting)
yeah because they totally can't create a policy that throttles anything it does not recognize.
but I'll use an SSL/TLS vpn - yeah and they'll sniff the ALPN and other things that often give away the store as far as whatever being tunneled not being actual HTTP traffic.
I am not saying you can't fool'em I am sure you can if you have a cooperative VPN provider or just a peer you have on a VPS some place that is making a little effort to look like web-secure traffic. However most of the commercial VPN providers will be readily identifiable as VPN traffic. If throttling policy is worth enough in dollars to the carrier, and enough users to matter start actually using VPNs they will start shaping VPN traffic too, and very few end users will have the wherewithal to evade that.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Another reasons for VPNs (Score:5, Insightful)
When they see traffic from a host they recognize as a video streaming source, they reduce (throttle) the available bandwidth from that host to that which which will give just better than 480P resolution for that video provider's average bitrate. Progressive video streaming technology (most streaming video is delivered as progressive video now... autonegotiating the video delivered to the available bandwidth and perceived congestion on the socket)
In doing so, they foce you to either:
1) Watch video with many interruptions
2) Watch video at the approved rate.
Remember when we were screaming for net neutrality, and the wireless providers said it would harm consumers?
This is the world without net-neutrality.
Enjoy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
>"Sounds like they're just encouraging their customers to pirate the content they want."
99.9% of people will notice no difference between 480p, 720p, and 1080p on their handheld PHONES. It actually makes sense for them to discourage HUGE amounts of wasted bandwidth because the [whatever] app/site sees you have some high-res (but tiny) screen and starts gobbling up tons of data to fill that tiny screen. The 0.1% can ask the carrier to remove the limit if they are on the plan that supports it.
Now, it cou
Re: (Score:1)
This is the world without net-neutrality.
Nope - I very much doubt they are doing it by host, network or ASN. For one thing in consumer side carriers started doing that it would incentive outfits like youtube connected to very large organizations like Alphabet to just make that harder by jumping around in IP space with their other services etc. They'd end up throttling all things google and their own customers would be ticked off, right at the moment they can potentially jump ship to a 5g carrier or Starlink or a WISP of some other sort. Consumer
Re: (Score:2)
Consumers have more choice in broadband now than in a long while, those cable franchise agreements are not the iron grip they were a decade ago.
That's the first I've heard of it. I still have the same 2 providers I had 10 years ago, and 20 years ago. Where has this situation improved?
They are doing enough packet inspection to say 'hey this looks like video' and throttling that wherever it comes from.
Is deep packet inspection even a thing any more with mandatory HTTPS everywhere?
They can do that net neutrality or not.
But they can't do the throttling part with NN in place. Although the last NN policy under the Obama administration explicitly permitted wireless carriers to do this, which defeats the purpose of NN.
Ultimately, the problem is that carriers promise gobs of bandwidth, but throttle it down.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Do you know how they are making that determination these days?
Re: Another reasons for VPNs (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How are they doing it? Spoofing YouTube TLS certificates?
Do they have an API with YouTube?
Not that I would notice 480p on a tiny screen for non-technical content, but the how seems like a bigger story.
Re: (Score:2)
They guess at the bitrate needed for a given resolution and only offer that bitrate to the host. If the provider switches to H.625 instead before Charter figures it out, you might get a better picture than advertised.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Another reasons for VPNs (Score:2)
Well if you had a fuckin clue this is for their service when you are watching "live streams" of cable channels you are subscribed to
Re: (Score:2)
The article said you could adjust the rate back if you like. This just seems to be an attempt to save some bandwidth for users who don't care. That helps cut expenses and potentially lets the service be cheaper for everyone.
Then there are those of us (Score:2)
who don't undestand why anyone wants to stream video movies/tv shows on itty-bitty screens, he says, typing on his 24" monitor.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Simple answer: With a set of headphones... The opera. Baseball game. Conference Keynote you couldn't care less about but must attend for some reason. At a restaurant with mobile addicts and everyone else is looking at their phones. Whatever you're sitting there bored with. Whatever activity you're attending in captivity, instead of by choice. Sit in the back. Entertain yourself. Make that Verizon premium package worth it's money (Spoiler alert: it isn't).
I think David Lynch said it best though. [worldofreel.com]
His mistake i
Re: (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
ugh (Score:3)
Further, the change will not affect customers who are connected to Wi-Fi.
I remember when I had an unlimited plan with AT&T mobile. They were throttling people without disclosing what the threshold was. I got into a spat with a CSR because they kept telilng me that it won't be a problem if I use wifi. "Of course I won't get throttled on it of I don't use it!" I think just remembering it is raising my blood pressure.
I *really* don't like being told not to use something I have paid for. I don't know if there's more nuance I'm missing here, but in general I do not have a lot of patience for ISPs playing games with the service to squeeze out a nickel. Not a single internet-consuming device in my possession was designed with data limits in mind and my ISPs profit margins are not something I am the slightest bit concerned with.
Re: (Score:2)
my ISPs profit margins are not something I am the slightest bit concerned with.
The problem is that this is the only thing they're concerned with. Providing you with a service is nothing but the necessary evil to them, if they could just get away with giving you jack shit and you still pay, you would get jack shit.
So what happened? (Score:2)
So what happened to all that blather about how 5G would provide a never ending torrent of data for everyone?
Re: (Score:3)
The lack of network neutrality regulation happened.
=Smidge=
Re: (Score:2)
Seedboxes?
Famous Quote (Score:2)
"480p ought to be enough for anybody." -Bill Gates