Verizon Confirms It Throttled Netflix Traffic as Part of 'Test' Updated with Verizon comment at bottom. Verizon Wireless users over at Reddit have been complaining this week that the company has started throttling their connections to Netflix without informing them of the change. To be clear the throttling is less than you'll see in many instances, with users saying their speeds on Verizon Wireless are capped at around 10 Mbps when both streaming Netflix content -- or running Netflix's simple Fast.com speedtest.

When these same users use the same connection to stream or access Netflix's speedtest with a VPN (or simply access another speedtest like ours ), the limitations magically disappear. "We are definitely not capping data on our end and don’t cap data for any mobile networks," Netflix said in a statement to The Verge, though Verizon has yet to respond to a request for comment. "Running fast.com produces 9-12mbps, settles down to 10mbps," states one Reddit user. "Running speedof.me, Speedtest, and coverage, produces speeds upwards of 60mbps." Another Reddit thread has additional detail, with Verizon Wireless users saying they're seeing the same thing with YouTube traffic. There are similar complaints also now popping up at Howard Forums suggesting this is a new phenomenon. Of course when carriers like Verizon began offering unlimited data again, many quickly proceeded to throttle video -- and in some instances have inposed an extra charge if subscribers want to stream in HD (or 4K). But to be clear, 10 Mbps is more than enough to stream 1080p60 and 1440p30, though users say they're running into buffering at 1440p60 or 4K (not that many users care about 4K on their mobile device anyway). Again, we've asked Verizon for comment, and until they clarify what's happening here it's hard to point any fingers. The Verizon website does explain some of the ways the company manages video on its network, and "deprioritizing" video is also now standard practice at competitors like T-Mobile and AT&T. When Verizon responds with more detail, we'll update this post. If you're on Verizon Wireless, let us know what you're seeing in the comment section below. Update: Verizon gave us a statement, but it's not particularly specific. "We've been doing network testing over the past few days to optimize the performance of video applications on our network," a Verizon spokesperson told DSLReports.com. "The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected." "We've been doing network testing over the past few days to optimize the performance of video applications on our network," a Verizon spokesperson told DSLReports.com. "The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected."







News Jump Comcast Shuts Off Internet for Subs Who Were Sold Service Illegally; AT&T, Verizon Team To Stop T-Mobile 5G; + more news California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 96 comments



Packeteers

Premium Member

join:2005-06-18

Forest Hills, NY ·Verizon FiOS

·Charter

Asus RT-AC3100

(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

3 edits 39 recommendations Packeteers Premium Member fine, down vote me to hell



i was playing around with the QoS (quality of service settings) of my router, while running a basic sniffer program which displayed how much total bandwidth my router was consuming each second. i would stream various channels off my roku3 and would see large crests and toughs on my data consumption graphic second to second which seemed to imply the stream would gobble up a chunk of video, cache it, then display it on my screen - so the actual download demand was only for maybe a second or two every 10 seconds. i found different streams consumed their precache at different rates, some would briefly peek at 10mbps, some at 30mbps, etc. by lowering my QoS even further and forcing my speed down to 10mbps, I found that the 30mbps precache peaking service would simply adjust by precaching long and more often at 10mbps - but the actual video being displayed did not suffer at all.



it occurs to me that verizon wireless may intentionally be capping the netflix stream, but the total data being transmitted remains the same - so instead of say 30mbps for 2 seconds and 0mbps for 8 seconds (while your screen displays what's in it's cache), verizon network engineers decided it was better for them to cap 10mbps so your netflix stream would be 10mbps for 6 seconds and 0mbps for 4 seconds, so as long as the capped bandwidth was higher than needed to keep the cache full - your actual video being displayed is not effected. it makes sense to me that verizon may have to do this because remember when you are on wireless you are sharing potentially limited capacity to whatever tower(s) you may be handed off at any given time, so your constant demand for netflix download updates at 10mbps, versus more intermittent netflix downloads at 30mbps - may actually allow verizon to improve your viewing experience, since the longer the gap of your pause gap during a stream download, the more likely you MAY get passed to a different cell tower which could disrupt your stream further.



i now return you to the usual politically correct circlejerk i have no doubt is already in progress elsewhere



net neutrality and keeping title ii are hard fought issues from 2015 that should not be rolled back,

but advocates for these rulings should be more careful about exactly where they pick their fights.

what verizon is doing may actually hurt our cause if protesters end up crying wolf over this event. so i'm sure this article will create the typical drum circle of net neutrality wonks, but verizon may be doing it for network traffic management reasons, not to spank netflix and it's subscribers into pony'ing up more money to verizon... before you flame me as some verizon stooge (trust me, i could not be further from that roll), allow me to explain;i was playing around with the QoS (quality of service settings) of my router, while running a basic sniffer program which displayed how much total bandwidth my router was consuming each second. i would stream various channels off my roku3 and would see large crests and toughs on my data consumption graphic second to second which seemed to imply the stream would gobble up a chunk of video, cache it, then display it on my screen - so the actual download demand was only for maybe a second or two every 10 seconds. i found different streams consumed their precache at different rates, some would briefly peek at 10mbps, some at 30mbps, etc. by lowering my QoS even further and forcing my speed down to 10mbps, I found that the 30mbps precache peaking service would simply adjust by precaching long and more often at 10mbps - but the actual video being displayed did not suffer at all.it occurs to me that verizon wireless may intentionally be capping the netflix stream, but the total data being transmitted remains the same - so instead of say 30mbps for 2 seconds and 0mbps for 8 seconds (while your screen displays what's in it's cache), verizon network engineers decided it was better for them to cap 10mbps so your netflix stream would be 10mbps for 6 seconds and 0mbps for 4 seconds, so as long as the capped bandwidth was higher than needed to keep the cache full - your actual video being displayed is not effected. it makes sense to me that verizon may have to do this because remember when you are on wireless you are sharing potentially limited capacity to whatever tower(s) you may be handed off at any given time, so your constant demand for netflix download updates at 10mbps, versus more intermittent netflix downloads at 30mbps - may actually allow verizon to improve your viewing experience, since the longer the gap of your pause gap during a stream download, the more likely you MAY get passed to a different cell tower which could disrupt your stream further.i now return you to the usual politically correct circlejerk i have no doubt is already in progress elsewherenet neutrality and keeping title ii are hard fought issues from 2015 that should not be rolled back,but advocates for these rulings should be more careful about exactly where they pick their fights.what verizon is doing may actually hurt our cause if protesters end up crying wolf over this event. videomatic3

join:2003-12-12

Pleasanton, CA 14 recommendations videomatic3 Member Haha

Verizon new unlimited data plan Well here you goVerizon new unlimited data plan Thistool

join:2013-12-05

Auburn, WA 5 recommendations Thistool Member VZW uses CDN caching in Paciffic Nw If turn off your mobile data in the Seattle area you can still youtube without internet connection. Wonder if VZW is trying to force the same thing with Netflix? Netflix is already paying for local CDN in wireline carriers in the Seattle area, does VZ want a piece of that? v12dock

join:2011-05-21

Chillicothe, IL 3 recommendations v12dock Member Same issue 10mbps on fast.com without a VPN and 23mbps with a VPN on postpay bcltoys

join:2008-07-21 2 recommendations bcltoys Member My Ass. Test my ass.