The beginning of the end? Netflix pays Comcast for bandwidth.
 

I just read that Netflix has struck a deal with Comcast to pay for access to Comcast's broadband network.

There have been arguments between ISPs and Netflix because supposedly during peak hours 30% of all internet traffic is Netflix streaming. Verizon has throttled Netflix. So Netflix is now going to pay for fast access on Comcast's network.

Is this the beginning of the end of net neutrality or just one big company paying another for a little better service?

This....

From a telco business stand point, 30% of ALL traffic is a huge number of resources for a single site.

Doesn't it just mean they are getting direct fiber connections from Comcast rather than buying the connectivity from a reseller?

What of Netflix hosted the movies on several different domains. That way all thentraffi won't be do Netflix but for hundreds of lik sites.

#fuckdapolice

:thumbsup

Yep, they'll connect directly to the Comcast network instead of coming into the network with all the other traffic. Nothing really to do with net neutrality.

My thoughts were that there is now nothing to keep Comcast from throttling other big sites then approaching them and saying, "You can stay how you are and some users might find your site a little slow, or you can pay to connect directly into our network."

While I concede your point that it could become a slippery slope, I think this is a resource management issue more than it is net neutrality. If someone is using a shared hosting resource, and it effects the rest of the node, you typically need to upgrade or go to a dedicated server. The same can be said for a shared vps environment. If someone is being DDoS'd and taking a lot of resources, the same can be said. You would need to pay more because your using up a lot of resources, and it's impacting other clients on the network.

Could this concept be abused trying to force everyone over a threshold to pay more? Sure.

However, it could also be that you choose to stay on the same network as everyone else and be throttled from the sounds of it. You then do not have to pay more for the service, however it will impact your users and their experience on your service. You have to decided what is better for your business and other clients. As I said, it's a slippery slope on where that line is drawn, however I think in this case, it's more about user experience and resource management than it is about a telco trying to skirt net neutrality.

:2 cents:

They created https://signup.netflix.com/openconnect to balance these issues, but not sure if it's working well for them

Netflix should have just bought time warner

Comcast does the same in reverse to their customers.

They do not cap speed until you have used a few hundred GBs of data transfer.
You have to read the fine print well to find it.
Then they try to up-sell you to Business class service which is still capped above 500 GBs of Data Transfer.

My local ISP does the same thing. When I first signed up they had the bandwidth caps in the fine print. Now on their site they have listed how much transfer you get each month before they charge you extra.

The crazy thing is, you know for every person that comes close to their peak each month they have a dozen that use next to nothing.

What if Netflix did not exist and that 30% was being used by a dozen smaller Netflix type services? Would Comcast have throttled them individuality?

Wondering about this myself. They have to make up that lost revenue somewhere.

Good nail the bastards.

Next will be the other assholes like tube sites and social media with their million useless punters searching for PICS, fake profils and fake advertising click bots.

The entire "Net Neutrality" argument is nothing more than a scam made up by those that profit from theft.