Netflix said Monday it plans to end what...
Netflix said Monday it plans to end what it calls a “small scale test” on June 16 of certain messages to their subscribers when videos are buffering. The messages faulted ISPs for delays. The company said in a blog post…
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that it plans to “evaluate rolling it out more broadly” (http://nflx.it/1pw0MRk). Verizon, one of the ISPs whose subscribers received the test messages, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Netflix Thursday seeking an end to the messages. Verizon asserted that any network congestion issues were attributable to Netflix choosing overly trafficked connections for its streaming service (CD June 6 p4). Netflix said in its blog post Monday it “does not purposely select congested routes” and that the issue is “at that door -- the interconnection point -- when the broadband provider hasn’t provided enough capacity to accommodate the traffic their customer requested.” Verizon had no comment. Netflix also released its ISP speed index for May, in which it lowered the rankings for both Verizon’s FiOS and DSL services, as well as Comcast’s service. Comcast ranked No. 5 on the index for May -- down from No. 3 in April -- with an average speed of 2.72 Mbps. Verizon FiOS dropped two places to No. 10 with an average of 1.9 Mbps, while Verizon DSL dropped one spot to No. 16 with an average of 1.05 Mbps. Charter, Windstream, Frontier and Clearwire all moved up in the rankings. Cablevision’s Optimum service remained No. 1 with an average of 3.03 Mbps.