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Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

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Re: Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

#3
I don't think P2P is a real solution.

With no Net Neutrality, what's to prevent Comcast from blocking P2P traffic? They already like data caps, they could also shrink the upload cap to make it too expensive for users to be able to afford.

Then you have the catalog problem. That works well for when the new episode of Orange is the New Black comes out, but what about smaller shows and old movies that may only have a half-dozen people watching them at any given time?

I'd say Netflix's best chance in all this is to mobile their customers to complain to regulators with some sort of banner in the Netflix apps.

Remember when the internet blacked its self out for a day a year or two ago over Net Neutrality? Remember how big companies like Comcast complained that Google and Facebook and others were "cheating" in getting users to complain about the issue?

That's where their power lies. Netflix has a ton of users. Either doing that or putting up messages during buffering like "Having problems? Comast isn't working hard for you." from time to time.

Re: Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

#4
post #2

Something like 13% of comcasts outgoing data is bittorrent already. The issue is most people won't like the idea of having their upload bandwidth being without their knowledge or permission.

You're giving people too much credit, most won't even know how Netflix work. Nobody complains about Spotify, and they use (used?) p2p too.

What Netflix neet do do is to use some smart protocol like utp and have sane limits by default to not saturate the uplink and make other services slow. If they manage to do that, then most users will be happy. Slap in there an on/off checkbox and a manual bandwidth limiter for the advanced users, and even most of those that know how p2p works will not complain.

Re: Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

#5
post #3

I don't think P2P is a real solution. With no Net Neutrality, what's to prevent Comcast from blocking P2P traffic? They already like data caps, they could also shrink the upload cap to make it too expensive for users to be able to afford. Then you have the catalog problem. That works well for when the new episode of Orange is the New Black comes out, but what about smaller shows and old movies that may only have a ha…

> With no Net Neutrality, what's to prevent Comcast from blocking P2P traffic?

Encryption.

> but what about smaller shows and old movies that may only have a half-dozen people watching them at any given time?

A user could distribute things that they're not watching.

> I'd say Netflix's best chance in all this is to mobile their customers to complain to regulators with some sort of banner in the Netflix apps.

That's a good idea too.

Re: Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

#7
post #4
post #2

Something like 13% of comcasts outgoing data is bittorrent already. The issue is most people won't like the idea of having their upload bandwidth being without their knowledge or permission.

You're giving people too much credit, most won't even know how Netflix work. Nobody complains about Spotify, and they use (used?) p2p too. What Netflix neet do do is to use some smart protocol like utp and have sane limits by default to not saturate the uplink and make other services slow. If they manage to do that, then most users will be happy. Slap in there an on/off checkbox and a manual bandwidth limiter for the…

Spotify doesn't do that anymore because while it makes sense technically it did not make business sense. Most users would not appreciate this even if it had no appreciable affect on their bandwidth.

Re: Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

#8
post #7
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're giving people too much credit, most won't even know how Netflix work. Nobody complains about Spotify, and they use (used?) p2p too. What Netflix neet do do is to use some smart protocol like utp and have sane limits by default to not saturate the uplink and make other services slow. If they manage to do that, then most users will be happy. Slap in there an on/off checkbox and a manual bandwidth limiter for the…

Spotify doesn't do that anymore because while it makes sense technically it did not make business sense. Most users would not appreciate this even if it had no appreciable affect on their bandwidth.

Spotify had to stop P2P because it makes no sense on mobile devices.

Re: Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

#9
post #6

Does anyone have any idea what the usage rates are for mobile Netflix vs. desktop/console/set-top Netflix? Skype has been moving away from a p2p architecture because of a surge in the number of mobile users.

Not sure but I strictly use a mobile device but only to cast to my ChromeCast (so only on WiFi). So I guess the Wifi vs data is more important than desktop vs mobile.

Re: Netflix Inc. May Have Found the Magic Bullet to Kill Comcast's Connection Fees

#10
Why not reskin popcorn time, add login/auth system to verified you're a paid netflix member, and you're done. Make app versions that work on all platforms.

Or netflix could use anonymous ip's/domains for their servers --who says netflix needs to broadcast to comcast--hey it's me netflix sharing some movies w/ my customers, thanks!

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