Netflix quality HORRID after update

An indepth article appeared today that is exploring widespread performance hits of some popular services, including Netflix.

http://gigaom.com/2014/02/06/theres-something-rotten-in-the-state-of-online-vide o-streaming-and-the-data-is-starting-to-emerge/

_Ty Cox_ wrote:

An indepth article appeared today that is exploring widespread performance hits of some popular services, including Netflix.

That article is techo-babble. Anyone quoting davesblog and his "revealing" traceroutes as revealing anything more than the same hop cound and latency is immediately suspect. I've used the M-Labs software at home and at work at it's completely unreliable. And like most other people (and per Netflix own measurements) I've seen no slowdown on TWC and I still only have Netflix problems on the ATV.

Am I understanding correctly that an ISP can limit how much of it's available bandwidth a service can use without degradation in the delivery and reserve the remaining bandwidth for other uses? Would this explain why Netflix streaming temporarily improves for some—when demand doesn't exceed the ISP's imposed limit? Would it also explain why video streaming can be poor while speed tests are simultaneously reporting satisfactory speeds because the tests don't occur between the same server that is serving the video stream?

If I owned a two-lane road and limited video streaming to one lane, and other traffic such as speed tests to the other lane, I can see how speed tests would be a useless indicator that video streaming isn't being hampered.

Yep. You've got it right.

Not really - a better analogy would be Netflix is coming of a side road. Does the junction have enough capacity to let the traffic on? Once you are on the freeway all the evidence is there is enough capacity.

Yes, his view is a valid way to look at the situation. Your analogy is good, too, as it's pretty clear in some cases there isn't enough capacity to let the traffic on -- particularly at prime time viewing hours at some locations.

I would say more like Netflix is assigned a lane or two of the multi-lane highway and those lanes are often more congested than the other lanes. There are may be even some unfortunatey placed cones lying about here and there, from time to time.

A while back I was on the phone a long time with Netflix customer service. I was bumped up twice to so-called managers. The last one knew **** well more than she would say. She did convince me that it would not be in the interest of Netflix to publicly state what they knew was happening with the streaming delivery. She did state that they regularly have conversations with the Internet service providers and that Comcast customers are generating a lot calls; she also stated Netflix has conversations with tier 1 providers (level3, xo, cogent). She told me that there is nothing Netflix can do after the stream leaves Netflix control, except politely ask that ISPs improve their 'end user experience.' She reiterated that Comcast could put in hardware (cnd?) provided by Netflix in their physical locations that would improve Netflix streaming. She had me test using my Verizon LTE on my iPad Air. Got great results even though I only had two out of five bars. Much better than with Comcast (my ISP) on the iPad Air. So that proved to me it wasn't the Netflix app on the iPad. Unfortunately I can't afford to use Verizon LTE as my streaming video provider. She asked me to test by using my Verizon LTE as a hotspot through my iPad air and then turn on Apple TV netflix app during times of low quality(evenings). Couldn't figure out how to turn on the hot spot I believe I'm not paying for it.

This is just a theory, but possible, no? -- the cable companies want people to pay for cable TV channels, not just buy internet from them and use Netflix. Could the cable company be throttling back the speed just when you are streaming netflix, and not while surfing the net on a computer? Netflix and Apple and PS3 would be much less suspect in my mind, knowing how the cable companies operate. Also I expect internet-only prices from cable companies to skyrocket, because there is no real alternative for high speed internet in many areas where people live. The cable companies refuse to update old, clunky cable box interfaces. They continue to go with the slam jam sales marketing approach, and they are losing cable TV subscribers.

Bottom line is we need more competition in the high speed internet providers.

...and it wouldn't surprise me if the cable companies put a governor on the speed at certain times when it's indicated that a subscriber is using Netflix.

This thread was started regarding ATV only issues. I don't know about other people but I still only have problems with Netflix on my ATV3. My PS3, TiVo, iPad, Roku etc. all work fine. This has been noted several times in the thread. There are also people posting here that have poor performance on other devices.

I just ran the test clip on my ATV then the Roku then the ATV. I got 235k, 4300k and 375k respectively.

The issue has been reported resolved by some posters.

I too have this problem.

I'm in Singapore and I have a 100mbs cable line. I get 100mbps when connected by ethernet and about 40mbps wirelessly (thanks to a useless cable/modem from Starhub).

Netflix in computer browser via ethernet - 3000kbps

Netflix app on iPad, right next to modem/router - 1050

Netflix app on Apple TV, connected via ethernet to modem/router - 1050

Those are the best speeds I've ever got.

The common denominator here is the Netflix app. Whether connected wirelessly via iPad or via ethernet and Apple TV, I get a rubbish speed.

What is also mystifying is why I can't get the full 5800kbps or whatever the top speed is supposed to be when connecting my computer directly to my modem. Could that be traffic shaping by my ISP? Or even via Netflix - it was peak time in the US when I did my tests. Maybe Netflix limited my max speed to 3000 and my wireless network which is rubbish further degrades the potential bandwidth?

I would also like to add that the movie trailer channel on Apple TV works in HD, though Sky News does not. That again works at around 560kbps - it's basically unwatchable as it's so blocky.

Ok. This evening was even worse. Couldn't get more than 375kbps!

I tried AirPlay from Netflix on my iPhone to my TV. I can't tell exactly what resolution I'm getting but it's now pretty good quality. Maybe HD.

So what does that mean? Seems to point to a problem with the Apple TV or the Netflix app there.

Funny thing was that I couldn't get more than 235kbps on my iphone on Netflix when I tried to watch the Example Play video. When I loaded Breaking Bad I got the better picture.

I really don't get any of this.

Neither do all the people that design the products. It's all suck new technology, they are just figuring out how to get it going.

Have you ruled out the cable company throttle back the speed? Or the wireless provider, or whoever

This auto correct *****. I typed "still" and it puts "suck" in there. That's very annoying. I hate auto correct