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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

#61

Post by 67726e »

notlisted wrote: post #46

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…

For what it's worth, I've had the same type of issues with my Roku on Comcast. I have multiple Roku boxes in my house and all have the same issue. For the past two or three months I've had buffering issues out of the blue.

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

#62

Post by twoodfin »

aroch wrote: post #55
twoodfin wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10 gigabit can't come close to covering the growing demand, no? During primetime hours, Netflix represents some substantial fraction of total U.S. internet traffic. If you're Comcast, running 25% of the U.S. broadband market, you're seeing a big chunk of that traffic. What if Netflix decides to double their max streaming rate? Or quadruple it? We can argue again about what it means that Comcast sells you a 20Mbit-max…

10Gbps isn't a lot in terms of total capacity or utilization but even a 100 extra kbps of burstable bandwidth/user can greatly improve the experience. It's the difference between buffering every 30sec and watching with only minor stuttering. Also, bandwidth costs only go down/mbps as you get bigger. $6K/month is what you pay if you're a small business; Comcast or Verizon would get high-level pricing (puts their cost…

100Kbps/subscriber is around 200Gbps for Comcast. And that's just 100Kbps! Netflix is going to keep telling their customers they're getting a suboptimal HD experience (and they'll be right!) until the average stream gets somewhere near Blu-ray's ~20Mbps. Maybe half that if you think codecs are going to get better, but by then 4K will be winding down the pike.

The point is that for Comcast and Verizon, there's no end in sight: A few more ports connected in a few more data centers isn't going to do more than make a few subscribers slightly happier for a few months.

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

#63

Post by steve19 »

jorgeleo wrote: post #38
CamperBob2 wrote: post #7

Hint: never use Comcast for residential service. Sign up for business service, even if you're just one person in an apartment. You get better support, less BS, and (likely) improved immunity to copyright-trolling law firms. They will still route about 10% of your packets via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, of course, but that's just the nature of the beast.

Last week we try to install comcast business in our church. They would not give us a wireless router unless we accepted her installation of a publics hot spot too. This is against the church policy because it will allow someone watching porn in the sanctuary with no knowledge for us. They would not relent. We end up putting our own wireless router. Speed is ok, but I didn't like that comcast pushed her policies to th…

Why not wrap their supplied router in aluminium foil? For a few dollars the problem is solved (although I agree with everyone else....people could just as easily use their data connection on a phone)

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

#64

Post by e40 »

bithive123 wrote: post #13
stock_toaster wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This also prevents you from using your own modem and requiring you to lease one of theirs (not to mention requiring a year contract), doesn't it?

You can use your own modem with Comcast business service (I do) but it took about two weeks of calling all the tech support numbers I could find until I finally got a tech who was able to do it. Not because it's hard to do, but because most of the people I talked to were lying or incompetent. The guy seemed a bit weirded out at how profusely I thanked him -- after all, all I'd done was tell him the model and MAC addr…

Not if you have a static IP. I talked to 5-6 reps to try and ended up returning the equipment to Amazon.

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

#65

Post by notlisted »

Bill_Dimm wrote: post #51
notlisted wrote: post #46

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…

Interesting, but what percentage of people have Apple TV? Is it enough to have that much of an impact? Note: Edited to remove part that was actually addressed in original post.

Not sure (Apple TV and Verizon I assume).

This article might implies quite a few might: http://www.tuaw.com/2013/07/16/report-half-of-streaming-boxe...

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

#66

Post by fixedd »

67726e wrote: post #61
notlisted wrote: post #46

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…

For what it's worth, I've had the same type of issues with my Roku on Comcast. I have multiple Roku boxes in my house and all have the same issue. For the past two or three months I've had buffering issues out of the blue.

Our Rokus all worked great, until one day around 1.5 years ago, something changed. They are only barely functional at this point. Charter cable here.

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

#67

Post by aroch »

twoodfin wrote: post #62
aroch wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10Gbps isn't a lot in terms of total capacity or utilization but even a 100 extra kbps of burstable bandwidth/user can greatly improve the experience. It's the difference between buffering every 30sec and watching with only minor stuttering. Also, bandwidth costs only go down/mbps as you get bigger. $6K/month is what you pay if you're a small business; Comcast or Verizon would get high-level pricing (puts their cost…

100Kbps/subscriber is around 200Gbps for Comcast. And that's just 100Kbps! Netflix is going to keep telling their customers they're getting a suboptimal HD experience (and they'll be right!) until the average stream gets somewhere near Blu-ray's ~20Mbps. Maybe half that if you think codecs are going to get better, but by then 4K will be winding down the pike. The point is that for Comcast and Verizon, there's no end…

It doesn't have to be dedicated, just bustable to a reasonably large number of subscribers at a time. Netflix will prefretch data and a small amount of burstable bandwidth goes a long way in viewing quality. This isn't about letting everyone stream SuperHD content at the same time, this is about relieving some pressure around the average bitrate (somewhere around 1900Kbps)

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

#69

Post by wmeredith »

steve19 wrote: post #63
jorgeleo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last week we try to install comcast business in our church. They would not give us a wireless router unless we accepted her installation of a publics hot spot too. This is against the church policy because it will allow someone watching porn in the sanctuary with no knowledge for us. They would not relent. We end up putting our own wireless router. Speed is ok, but I didn't like that comcast pushed her policies to th…

Why not wrap their supplied router in aluminium foil? For a few dollars the problem is solved (although I agree with everyone else....people could just as easily use their data connection on a phone)

Ah, the juxtaposition of this could be delicious. They wonder why there are no connections at that public hotspot. When they come out to check it and nothing's wrong (just remove the foil before hand - it's not like they could access the building without your knowledge) . They leave, you wrap it back up and they come out again with the same results but this time they replace the equipment... and so on.

The only thing that could be better is if you gave them a window of time in which you will randomly show up at the facility to unlock the office or whatever and give them access. Say, between 8am and 11am. "No I'm not sure when I'll be there exactly. I have several appointments that morning. Is that an issue?"

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

#70

Post by snarf »

rbritton wrote: post #26
bithive123 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use your own modem with Comcast business service (I do) but it took about two weeks of calling all the tech support numbers I could find until I finally got a tech who was able to do it. Not because it's hard to do, but because most of the people I talked to were lying or incompetent. The guy seemed a bit weirded out at how profusely I thanked him -- after all, all I'd done was tell him the model and MAC addr…

Thanks for this. I've been wondering, so tomorrow. I'm going to start the process.

They have a list of approved modems for the both the residential and business services, with the business one being a small subset of the residential one. But I was able to get a modem approved only for the residential service on my business account by calling around. What worked for me after only a few tries was calling into the residential tech support and having them add it. It's apparently all the same infrastructure on the back end.
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