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Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

arstechnica.com

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Re: Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

#81
It really annoys me when people present data on charts and the lower range is not zero. This article shows a speed comparison for Verizon and Comcast. The Verizon chart ranges from 1.8Mbps to 2.3Mbps. The Comcast chart goes from 1.4Mbps to 2.2Mbps. This is lazy at best, disingenuous at worst.

People, stop doing this! Start a chart like this at zero. Only if that is meaningless, do something different (it's not here). But is really that hard to at least be consistent?

Re: Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

#82

I have a theory... (based on personal experience). The issue for many is (was) with Apple TV, and not Verizon. I updated my Apple TV in november (shortly after Netflix introduced its SuperHD mode). For a long time after that, Netflix performance was abysmal (dropping down to sub 480p at times, especially during the night time). I complained to netflix and verizon. The latter suggested I try connecting to netflix on a…

We have a 40Mb link from XFinity (Comcast), and we only have problems with Netflix. Amazon prime streaming works great, Hulu worked great when we had it (I couldn't stand paying to watch the same commercial over and over again), HBOGO, XBLN movies, and the assorted Xfinity services all work perfect. It's only Netflix that we have trouble getting a HD stream from.

We use these services on an Xbox, Roku, and Kindle/PC - and Netflix is consistently the slowest of them all, no matter the platform -- sometimes not getting an HD stream at all during playback, but usually only getting HD stream for about 30-40% of playback.

Re: Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

#83
post #82

I have a theory... (based on personal experience). The issue for many is (was) with Apple TV, and not Verizon. I updated my Apple TV in november (shortly after Netflix introduced its SuperHD mode). For a long time after that, Netflix performance was abysmal (dropping down to sub 480p at times, especially during the night time). I complained to netflix and verizon. The latter suggested I try connecting to netflix on a…

We have a 40Mb link from XFinity (Comcast), and we only have problems with Netflix. Amazon prime streaming works great, Hulu worked great when we had it (I couldn't stand paying to watch the same commercial over and over again), HBOGO, XBLN movies, and the assorted Xfinity services all work perfect. It's only Netflix that we have trouble getting a HD stream from. We use these services on an Xbox, Roku, and Kindle/PC…

Wow I didn't realize Hulu Plus still showed ads. That's quite annoying.

Re: Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

#84
post #82

I have a theory... (based on personal experience). The issue for many is (was) with Apple TV, and not Verizon. I updated my Apple TV in november (shortly after Netflix introduced its SuperHD mode). For a long time after that, Netflix performance was abysmal (dropping down to sub 480p at times, especially during the night time). I complained to netflix and verizon. The latter suggested I try connecting to netflix on a…

We have a 40Mb link from XFinity (Comcast), and we only have problems with Netflix. Amazon prime streaming works great, Hulu worked great when we had it (I couldn't stand paying to watch the same commercial over and over again), HBOGO, XBLN movies, and the assorted Xfinity services all work perfect. It's only Netflix that we have trouble getting a HD stream from. We use these services on an Xbox, Roku, and Kindle/PC…

I had the opposite experience: Netflix was fine on Comcast, Amazon Prime was surprisingly poor.

Re: Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bits != Bytes. Mbps == Megabits/sec MBps == Megabytes/sec

dangrossman said Mb/s samstave mistakenly read that as MB/s

Yeah, I thought he was referring to his whole connection...

And while his link is 15/5 -- I still thin thats slow for FiOS -- but I had misread his comment..... I may have also been drinking.

Re: Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

#86

I have a theory... (based on personal experience). The issue for many is (was) with Apple TV, and not Verizon. I updated my Apple TV in november (shortly after Netflix introduced its SuperHD mode). For a long time after that, Netflix performance was abysmal (dropping down to sub 480p at times, especially during the night time). I complained to netflix and verizon. The latter suggested I try connecting to netflix on a…

Netflix is unusable on my Apple TV. I can't even get through a 20-minute TV episode without it dropping to sub-480p quality and/or stopping completely. I've never been able to figure it out. I have the latest generation Apple TV updated with the latest software. I have tried rebooting it, etc. It's only a problem on my Apple TV. Netflix works flawlessly on my Playstation 3, iPad, iPhone, and PC. My ISP is a regional…

This is what did the trick for me. Update Apple TV to the latest version, unplug. Unplug the modem. Plug it back in, wait for it to come online. Plug in the Apple TV again. Wait for it to go online. Enjoy.

PS Amazon Prime Instant Video and Vudu have never given me any problems.

Re: Netflix performance on Verizon and Comcast has been dropping for months

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minor point, but if I'm paying for 10Mbit, shouldn't I be able to actually USE that fully? Mind you, I'm not paying for a 1Mbit with 10Mbit bursting. I am the revenue source for my ISP and they should have a vested interest in providing me the service level I'm paying for. EDIT: Also, the conflict of interest with an ISP also being a content provider should be legislated away. We have a horrible situation right now a…

I don't think your provider has guaranteed you 10Mbit constant bandwidth to every host on the internet. Would you demand 10Mbit constant bandwidth to the Galapagos islands? Or to some site getting slashdotted? If you check your contract, I suspect 10Mbit or whatever is described as a maximum possible speed which can be affected by a variety of conditions and is not guaranteed.

If you read the post I was replying to, he was alluding to customers pulling a sustained 10Mbit on the connection during certain hours and that being justification for shenanigans. I was simply saying if I pay for a full 10Mbit (not bursted 10Mbit) then I expect to be able to saturate that and not have the ISP try to justify throttling some of the traffic or charging a downstream source for the 'right' to send me data over a connection I'm already paying for.
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