Don't look at us, states Verizon in response to allegations that the company has been throttling bandwidth on its fiber optic network and causing users to limp through mounting Netflix queues.
A 75-Mbps connection should have no problem delivering 4K movies from Netflix, which require 25 Mbps of bandwidth to do so, a Verizon FIOS customer reportedly reasoned with the telecommunications company in a letter. That same connection is 15 times faster than Netflix' requirements for streaming 1080p content, a high-resolution image with progressive scanning.
David Young, vice president of Verizon Federal Regulatory Affairs, stated, in a blog post, that Verizon followed up on the customer's complaint and measured network usage from the user's home to the interconnection link where Netflix' service providers deliver the streaming company's content into Verizon's network.
"While the links chosen by Netflix were congested -- congestion occurs when use approaches or reaches 100 percent capacity during peak usage periods -- the links from other transit providers, carrying non-Netflix traffic, to Verizon's network did not experience congestion and were performing fine," stated Young. "The maximum amount of capacity used, or peak utilization, over the links between these other networks and Verizon's network ranged from 10 percent to 80 percent, with an average peak utilization of 44 percent."
Ultimately, Young surmised that it was Netflix and its elected service providers who were throttling bandwidth and rationing out streaming service to Verizon users. Young reasoned that Netflix was the only service that had problems delivering content to Verizon's customers and suggested that Netflix' service providers may not be up to the task of accommodating the high demand for the streaming service.
"For whatever reason, perhaps to cut costs and improve its profitability, Netflix did not make arrangements to deliver this massive amount of traffic through connections that can handle it," stated Young.
Netflix, in a June 9 statement, placed the blame on Internet service providers and Internet fast lanes and road blocks, though it didn't name Verizon. Netflix, which uses another form of fast lane, said its service providers are being charged at the interconnection link, causing data to travel down a slow lane if a ticket down a fast lane isn't purchased.
"Some large U.S. ISPs are erecting toll booths, providing sufficient capacity for services requested by their subscribers to flow through only when those services pay the toll," stated Netflix. "In this way, ISPs are double-dipping by getting both their subscribers and Internet content providers to pay for access to each other."
Already an ugly exchange, the Federal Communication Commission has been observing the dispute between Verizon and Netflix and it could step in soon.
