Comments on: Netflix: ISPs Kill Web Freedom, Suck All Profits

By: George Fendler

George Fendler — Sat, 21 May 2011 01:06:48 +0000

I don’t “blame” the customer and I don’t “blame” NetFlix. I think that both are taking the next step in the evolutionary process of the Internet. However, Don’t blame the ISP because they won’t sell something that costs them a lot of money at a price that is less than they have to pay for it.
Robin, You seem don’t understand that small, rural communities are not served by the big corporations because the cost of running cable or fiber to sparsely populated communities is much greater than in big cities. These communities are served by small, wireless ISPs that have to connect to the Internet in very expensive ways. The alternative for these communities is to not have high-speed Internet.

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 20 May 2011 21:17:22 +0000

Netflix: ISPs Kill Web Freedom, Suck All Profits http://t.co/UcRhxCdCu WE will ditch live stream & web tv internet services that do this as we and our friends are ditching greedy cable companies that r over priced w/contracts. Seriously want to cap Gigabites? We’ll go back to local TV and RED BOX! IPS greedy oportunists. Don’t Take It Netflix!!

By: janey

janey — Tue, 17 May 2011 19:06:28 +0000

Certainly depends on where you are. I’m out in north Texas and am surrounded by farms & cows, but I have Verizon FIOS. With no monthly caps.. and Verizon is happy to let customers know that.

By: Mike Hammett

Mike Hammett — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:56:41 +0000

There already are thousands of independent ISPs out there. Buy your service from one of them.

By: Mike Hammett

Mike Hammett — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:04:23 +0000

Thanks for recognizing some our plight, Stacey.

By: Mike Hammett

Mike Hammett — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:00:40 +0000

Netflix distributes their content through Content Distribution Networks such as Akamai, LimeLight, and Level 3 (also an international carrier). They don’t have their own servers.

You are referring to peering, which is not a zero cost game. It still costs money to build out the 10, 40, or 100 GigE links to connect the networks. It still costs big bucks to haul that service throughout the provider’s network.

However, rarely do these CDNs get to peer, because of their traffic ratios. They usually pay the international carriers for pipes, whom the providers usually purchase from as well.

What’s wrong with billion dollar profits? It’s not like they have a large profit percentage.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Mon, 16 May 2011 05:05:00 +0000

I’m going to call you out. At the 1Gbps Its not uncommon to find bandwidth at $1-2 a Mbps range. (Cogent, HE, Level 3). I’m in cabs that pay these rates, and this is for dedicated circuits.

As a tier 2 carrier with large amounts of peering the cost is largely in maintaining your own switching and fiber to peering points, and the internal costs look something more like 85 cents per Mbps.

The important thing to remember here is that cable and DSL companies can oversubscribe easily at rates of 20:1 (I’ve known some small ones to go crazy at like 100:1). So that Mbps cable line I have in reality costs Comcast a $1 for transit/peering infrastructure. Now I don’t begrudge them their money as they have sales/marketing/network engineers and plenty of other overhead, but bandwidth isn’t really an issue. The last mile segment problem is a one time capital fix, that their billions in profits should be able to cover, and DSL has no excuse as they should have plenty of fiber to their DSLAMs.

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Mon, 16 May 2011 02:24:34 +0000

George, the special access charges that folks like you and Brett Glass pay are a huge problem. I understand where you guys are coming from and the costs y’all are living with. I am hoping that the FCC will improve this situation or that technology improvements in areas such as microwave backhaul make your situation sustainable. Much like consumers, you guys are being squeezed by the incumbents, are in a non competitive market for service and have little recourse.

By: jfutral

jfutral — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:58:53 +0000

“Over-subscription is the *ONLY* way services can be provided to residential and small business customers. That type of client just isn’t willing or able to pay for dedicated services. *EVERY* residential connection is over-subscribed.”

Again, not the customer’s fault. So, stop blaming the customer. Good grief, at least airlines give customers the option of volunteering to be bumped off and offering a free ticket in the process.

Joe

By: jfutral

jfutral — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:53:18 +0000

“I put sole blame on any company that CAN’T figure out a workable business model and then proceeds to blame the customer.”