Without Greater Transparency And Meaningful Net Neutrality Rules, The Netflix Interconnection War Will Get Much, Much Uglier

from the sunlight-is-the-best-disinfectant dept

If you've followed the ongoing feud between Netflix and the nation's biggest ISPs, you'll recall that streaming performance on the nation's four biggest ISPs (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner Cable) mysteriously started to go to hell earlier this year, and was only resolved once Netflix acquiesced to ISP demands to bypass transit partners and pay carriers for direct interconnection. Though the FCC has refused to include interconnection in their consideration of new net neutrality rules, we've noted how it's really the edges of these networks where the biggest neutrality battles are now being waged.

While Netflix's deals did resolve the congestion issues for users on these ISPs this past fall, the debate over this practice has since broken down into two distinct camps. One is Netflix, its transit partners, and consumer advocacy groups, who claim that the nation's biggest ISPs have intentionally let key transit points degrade, intentionally creating significant congestion and forcing Netflix to pay them directly if they want their video services to work. On the other side is the mega-ISPs, their PR folks and a smattering of industry consultants, who argue that Netflix is to blame by choosing Cogent as a cheaper transit link to these carriers.

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Continua qui: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141106/05594529063/without-greater-transparency-meaningful-neutrality-rules-netflix-interconnection-war-will-get-much-much-uglier.shtml