Netflix One Step Closer To Being The Entire Internet
Netflix One Step Closer To Being The Entire Internet
Posted 05/17/2011 at 11:35am
| by Brad Chacos
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First, doomsayers said that P2P traffic would kill the Internet. Then it was Youtube. With today's announcement from Sandvine, service providers have a new scape-goat – Netflix. According to a recent report, the company now accounts for nearly 30% of all downstream traffic on the Internet.
"Netflix?" you may say, "Don't they do mail-order DVDs?" They sure do, but the company's moved into Hulu's territory the past few years by offering several digital streaming options. Aggressive maneuvering has made Netflix almost omnipresent – sometimes it seems like no matter how you access the Internet, your video queue is there, patiently waiting for your attention.
All those access points make Netflix a bandwidth hog the likes of which ISPs haven't seen in a long time. BitTorrent and Youtube, the previous industry boogie men, account for 11% and 10% of all Internet traffic, respectively, meaning Netflix takes more tube-space than both of them combined. Don't expect the number to drop off anytime soon, either. Netflix's CEO has identified streaming video as the central pillar for the company, and new Netflix-compatible devices continue to come out month after month.
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audiomatron
May 18, 2011 at 6:20am
I just got DSL after 3 years of suffering the Fair Access Policy of HughesNet, so the 150 GB per month cap seems reasonable. However, since getting DSL, another thing happened - we started watching the heck out of Netflix. I could see where the cap may affect me now, which really sucks because I really enjoy being able to watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it. Not to mention all of the other things I've moved into doing in the cloud...
Bagman57
May 18, 2011 at 1:08am
I just put my two cents in on the Bandwidth Cap article. I said those with only a 150GB cap should feel lucky. I have a wireless ISP and my cap is 5GB.
With more tv shows and movies and adverts streaming online these days why can't ISPs accommodate their customers with more bandwidth. It seems the World Wide Web is falling behind in respect to the demand.
My question is, is this intentional to raise the bottom line or is there a overall bandwidth limit given todays technology?
If Netflix play their cards right they could end up being the Microsoft of online movie streaming.
Caboose
May 18, 2011 at 9:48am
Bandwidth =/= Data
Bandwidth = how fast you get your information
Data = the information.
Most ISP's offer fairly fast internet connections (the bandwidth part) however limit how much you can download (the data part).
spoonard
May 17, 2011 at 12:48pm
Greedy, fat, and lazy. Instead of upgrading to meet the new demand, ISP's choose to stunt the growth of the Internet by squeezing every last dime out of the end users they possibly can with these bandwidth caps. But hey, that's the American Way, right?
bling581
May 18, 2011 at 9:59am
Yep. There is no incentive for ISP's to expand or invest in their networks because most have a monopoly or duopoly in most areas. At my zipcode I have two choices for broadband, well really only one choice because I hate AT&T. I know a lot of people who only have Comcast in their area. According to netindex.com we are rated 26 for average download speeds and 40 for upload. I'm not sure how our prices compare to other countries but I'm pretty sure they're high. I pay $52 a month for a 7mbps connection. If the government doesn't enforce Net Neutrality then we're just going to be bullied even more by the ISP's and costs will go up.
ShyLinuxGuy
May 17, 2011 at 11:57am
I'm not so sure Netflix is going to be "the entire Internet" with all these bandwidth caps. Not even close, because our ISPs refuse to accomodate.
Brad Chacos
May 17, 2011 at 12:28pm
I'm just picturing NBC-Comcast "Traffic shaping" Netflix traffic while allowing NBC's Hulu to continue streaming full-blast -- assuming NBC-Comcast doesn't decide to just up and strangle the cable-killing power of Hulu, of course.
AnglicDemon00
May 17, 2011 at 11:57am
Proof that, maybe ISP need to update their own infrastructor. As netflix is almost on every tech device, from smart phones, to T.V loaded with apps, game consoles as well as DVD and blue-ray players. We also have to include cost which seems to hit a sweet spot. So the amount of user's using netflix service will continue to increase.
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