Is Comcast blocking Netflix? [ Edited ]

[#1]

You know, dj280, your arrogance is really not appreciated.  Apparently you are not able to differentiate between complaints and factual statements people are making.  Is that the general "American way"? Having an intellectual deficiency might be limited to just you, not all Americans. See, don't generalize.

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dj280 wrote:

Generally people are more interested in complaining & making pronouncements, ......

it's the American way.

[#2]

The problem is they deny it.

Funny, in multiple phone conversations with customer support they say "why would comcast throttle down netflix"

Well, it was only about 5 or 6 years ago that comcast got caught causing trouble with news forum users who were downloading movies.  The FCC directed them to stop.

Could be that phone support only know what they are told. Denial is so much easier.

I have made the tests and logged the results. My only choice at this point is to just dump comcast... which is probably what I will do shortly.

[#3]

------------------------------------------------------------------
emellnik wrote:
Well, it was only about 5 or 6 years ago that comcast got caught causing trouble with news forum users who were downloading movies.  The FCC directed them to stop.
------------------------------------------------------------------

What you failed to mention was that "news forum users" were using peer-to-peer applications like BitTorrrent to illegally download copyrighted content. It was illegal back then just as it is illegal today to do this.

The FCC ordered Comcast to stop throttling BitTorrrent traffic. The FCC did however say it was OK for Comcast to block illegal material and "transmissions that violate copyright law."

The problem with Comcast's network management was that they were blocking all such traffic even traffic that was legal. The problem then just as it is now is distinguishing legal and illegal traffic. If Comcast can come up with a way to identify traffic that violates copyright law then the FCC would not object at all. In fact both the FCC and the entertainment industry would commend Comcast for doing so.

Analysis: FCC Comcast Order is Open Invitation to Internet Filtering
August 20, 2008
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/08/analysis-fcc-co/

In the Matters of Formal Complaint of Free Press and Public Knowledge Against Comcast Corporation for Secretly Degrading Peer-to-Peer Applications
Adopted: August 1, 2008    Released: August 20, 2008
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/files/comcastdecision.pdf

[#4]

They are blocking Netflix; It is happening to me with my smart tv, roku, and apple tv.. Worked Fine forever. Seriously considering cancelling my service. I upgraded firmware on router. Unplugged and restarted modem. hardwired through ethernet and still super slow.....

[#5]

It's getting worse and worse. I'm lucky to maintain 375 kbps now. It's not just at "peak" times either. It's almost unwatchable for more than 8 hours every night. I'm on the verge of canceling my subscription since I can't watch during the day.

[#6]

I've notice extermely slow download since I started using Netflix and Amazon streaming within the last month.  Constant buffering on downloads and downloading movies to my device for offline viewing take several hours at what should a 25MBS download speed.

[#7]

Re ComcastNick: "Comcast has thousands of customers who use our Internet service to stream via Nexflix, if we were attempting to block that service, you would see a lot more people talking about it."

Well, it's obvious that a lot more people ARE talking about it!  I posted one just today about this same problem happening to me!

[#8]

To begin I would like to state that I am not asking for any assitance or help with this issue, I am only posting this to bring the clear, undeniable, and verfiable evidence that Comcast is currently throttling my stream from Netflix.  This started several days ago rendering Netflix unwatchable and even though I have a 30Mbps connection Netflix is unable to stream faster than 235KB/s

Here is the evidence I have gathered.

All obvious 'fixes' have been attempted, reset modem, router, computers, devices, etc.  DO NOT ASK.

Nexflix will only stream at is lowest quality setting 235KB/s

All devices connected to the router, wired or wireless, stream at the lowest setting.

This only affects Netflix.  YouTube, Amazon, Vemo, etc stream at full HD without issue.

Connecting a desktop and two laptops directly to the modem still streams at the lowest setting.

All devices stream Netflix in HD when connected to neghibors ATT  WiFi

All devices stream Netflix in HD when connected to WiFI Hotspot from my Nexus 4 on T-Mobile HSPA+ (3 bars 4-7 Mbps)

In my past expericens with Comcast customer service their only soultion is to send a tech out for a $75 service fee.  I will be canceling my service and switching to a provider that will be able to deliver contet regardless of the source.  

Also if you are considering posting something along the lines of "Comcast does not".. or "Comcast cannot" please stop, hit the back button on your browser and move on.  You are either a delusional "volunteer" Comcast fanboy (never would have imagined there was such a thing until reading a few threads from this forum) or a paid schill for Comcast trying to deflect/derail the evidence here.

Thanks for reading, and good riddance Comcast, the worst Company in America.

[#9]

Count me in, I posted a new thread. I expect these post will begin dissapearing quietly in the night.

Comcast IS throttling Netflix, and if anyone seriously asks "Why would they do that?" they are fully incompetent or they file a 1099 from Comcast...

[#10]

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cmallen21 wrote:

Count me in, I posted a new thread. I expect these post will begin dissapearing quietly in the night.

Comcast IS throttling Netflix, and if anyone seriously asks "Why would they do that?" they are fully incompetent or they file a 1099 from Comcast...

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Interesting comment.  I have 2 blu-ray players, Yamaha & Sony.  No problems with Sony viewing HD movies.  Yamaha's Netflix sucks big time.  Both Yamaha & Sony are connected to the same router.

So, if Comcast is blocking Netflix, it should affect BOTH units, which it doesn't.  The interface for the Yamaha & Sony are different; in fact, I bought the Sony because the internet services using the Yamaha was so bad that neither Netflix or Youtube viewing were acceptable.  Yes, the Sony is the cheaper of the units as in 4 times cheaper.

[#11]

Your issue is not what we are discussing here. You have one device that is affected, all of my devices affected but only when on Comcast. Att or T-Mobile stream in HD no problem.

Also I would like to say that my post with evidence I created earlier today has already been purged. Why delete my findings if Comcast really is not to blame?

Comcast knows more people are ditching their overpriced, poor quality service for better streaming options and they are losing.

[#12]

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cmallen21 wrote:
Your issue is not what we are discussing here. You have one device that is affected, all of my devices affected but only when on Comcast. Att or T-Mobile stream in HD no problem.

Also I would like to say that my post with evidence I created earlier today has already been purged. Why delete my findings if Comcast really is not to blame?

Comcast knows more people are ditching their overpriced, poor quality service for better streaming options and they are losing.

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Guess my knowledge of English is insufficient.  Apoligies.

I just went by the title/subject of the thread as in "Is Comcast blocking Netflix?".  I should have remembered that "one cannot judge a book by its cover" also apply to subject threads.

Sorry to intrude in a thread that has nothing to do with the subject line.

[#13]

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cmallen21 wrote:

Also I would like to say that my post with evidence I created earlier today has already been purged. 

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I only see 3 total posts for your username, and all are in this thread. If a post contains content that violates the posting guidelines, it is normally moved to a board with restricted access. I have never seen a post or thread deleted completely without an explanation. Certainly the non-Comcast employees that volunteer here do NOT have the ability to completely delete or edit posts other than their own.

You noted in another post that you created a new thread. I don't see that thread, but it is possible that someone merged it with this one, as it is, for practical purposes, part of the same conversation.

[#14]

I'm in the Bay Area, and through some friends of friends I was able to get some info regarding the poor streaming rates. As far as the Bay Area is concerned, Netflix is fully aware of the poor experience, but there is nothing they can do. During peak hours, network connectivity between Comcast and the Netflix providers are extremely limited. I was shared some numbers where rates dropped by over 50% or more during peak. This is a common pattern and has been like this for at least 6 mo, possibly longer.

The bottleneck is on Comcast's side, and they have no plans to augment connectivity to handle the increased traffic. This impacts some devices more than others. Devices capable of parallel streaming, like the PS3 and newer smart TVs, will perform much better than Xbox, Apple TV, or even the website. I can't speak to other areas that Comcast serves, but it certainly sounds like Comcast is aware, but mostly unwilling to share that information to its customers, opting instead to place the blame on Netflix.

[#15]

Yes my post with evidence was deleted, sorry to tarnish the image of your beloved Comcast.  If you do a Google search for "Comcast Throttling Netflix" it shows as the second result under the Comcast forums.  When clicking on the link it takes you to an error page.  Unfortunately there is not a cached page on Google to view but I have no reason to falsify this.  Comcast, however, has many reason to removed evidence of illegal throttling practices it is involved with.

Tech support was an exercise in futility with the tech saying everything is fine, offering no further insight or help.

Here is my issue, as it was deleted.

Time of day does not matter. 10am, 2:00, or 10pm

30Mbps Blast

All devices, wired and wireless, stream Netflix at the lowest quality setting.

Only Netflix is affected, YouTube, vemo, Amazon etc. stream in HD no problem.

Connecting either of my laptops to my Nexus 4 T-mobile HSPA+ (4-7Mbps) hotsopt streams Netflix in HD no problem.

Connecting to much slower ATT dsl streams Netflix in HD no problem.

I must conclude that Comcast is targeting and throttling Netflix streams, and I see no way to deny it in this situation.

[#16]

I just connected my blueray player to my Moto X phone wifi hotspot and was able to stream 1080HD, looked great from netflix.  Stopped streaming, then connected back to my comcast internet and the crappy 480SD max res started to happen again.  So looks like comcast is the issue, and the tech support I spoke with blamed netflix as the problem.  I'm in Chicago, so I'll be looking to RCN HSI. 

[#17]

Well I am glad I'm not the only one having this problme for a few weeks now.  I finally decided to get some answers.  Here's a section of my chat with Netflix.  They actually TOLD me that Comcast was throttling my bandwidth on their site.  I got this from a supervisor who was working with an engineer with me after 2 hours of troubleshooting every variable involved in the connection to their servers.  For the TL;DR...see the part in bold below.  Also, here's a speedtest I just did prior to making this post.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3157890696

I'm so happy Netflix gave me the answer I was looking for...the analyst I was working with was shocked to find out this answer from the engineering team too:

Netflix Ian

Hmmm okay then one moment let me see what my research team can do from there end or what they are seeing.

You

sure thing

You

if it helps, i just ran this speedtest too: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3157805310

You

im bordeline 60mbps down

Netflix Ian

Okay cool! One moment please.

Netflix Ian

Hey here are you currently using the mac or pc ?

You

currently on the pc

You

mac is in use by the fiance right now lol

Netflix Ian

Okay cool. lol I'm currently on the phone with em guys trying to figure out what is happening.

You

ok np

Netflix Ian

Hey there who might your internet service provider be?

You

comcast

Netflix Ian

Aha! Okay.

Netflix Ian

I'm going to be 100% honest here with and I'm going to tell you exactly what I asked for and what shown to me.

You

sure thing

Netflix Ian

Christopher you internet is indeed fast and that 60mbps you are indeed getting it.

Netflix Ian

However you get that when you're not not trying to stream what comcast does now which they didn't tell you is to cut your speed when you're trying to stream HD with us.

Netflix Ian

I didn't believe when my supervisor told me what my research team said so I asked for a shot at the screen.

You

ok can i get some documentation on this please

Netflix Ian

If you do an internet test where you are not streaming it will show that.

You

so i can take this up with the isp

Netflix Ian

However when you try to stream it they cut the speed or make sure that it fluctuates and you're hardly hitting 2mbps second to get the HD content.

You

well i have tested while streaming forced hd and i still get in the 40mbps down

You

but, what documentation do you have on this

Netflix Ian

Aww I'm not sure what I would be able to send you but one moment let get some additional info as to what we'd have that we can send to you if any.

You

well i can't quite just call comcast and say netflix told me you are throttling my bandwidth for their site without some communication from you since that's the claim

You

because ive not had the problem with amazon..and i know they are different OS but they still use about the same bandwidtfh for hd stream...

Netflix Ian

Hey there you can request the chat transcript here at the end of the chat for reference at the end of the chat.

Netflix Ian

I know it sounds weird and out of this world but honestly those guys wouldn't lie to you about this. They can actual see that the speed drops when you try to get hd.

You

well that's a problem then. you're basically telling me that comcast is singling out your site

You

and throttling my bandwidth to your site making it so im not getting hd and that it's intentionally being done only to this site.

After this conversation I called Comcast and they told me that if I didn't like their equipment, I could use my own and use that instead because my connection is fine...the guy didn't have a clue about the issue at hand.  I then asked him if he's ever heard of anyone else having problems streaming from Netflix when all other sites are fine...he said he "wasn't aware of that matter".  When I asked if I could record the call for quality assurance purposes he hung up...go figure...they are allowed to record the call but when you want to they hang up.

[#18]

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cmallen21 wrote:

Yes my post with evidence was deleted, 

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It was merged with this thread as message number 108, and still exists:

http://forums.comcast.com/t5/Basic-Internet-Connectivity-And/Is-Comcast-blocking-Netflix/m-p/1949235...

The link in the search results takesme right to it.

[#19]

I did not see that up there yesterday, my apologies.

In any event that still does not change the fact that ast is throttling Netflix and pretending not to. I just hope they throttle the wrong persons connection, perhaps someone with enough celebrity to expose Comcast and their anticompetitive business practices.

I just want it to work as it did for the past 2 years.

The truth will come out. It always does.

[#20]

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cmallen21 wrote:
I did not see that up there yesterday, my apologies. No worries...

In any event that still does not change the fact that ast is throttling Netflix and pretending not to. I just hope they throttle the wrong persons connection, perhaps someone with enough celebrity to expose Comcast and their anticompetitive business practices.

I just want it to work as it did for the past 2 years.

The truth will come out. It always does.

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If you are completely  convinced that you do not have a connection problem, then I am not sure what to tell you, especially if the Netflix issue is happening at any time of day on all your devices. I would ask if you have checked your modem signal levels. You didn't mention that as part of your post when you said you had done all the resets, reboots, etc? It may be that the Netflix streams may be more sensitive to a degraded connection than others (just a thought).

I see occasional issues on one device (a older Blu-ray player) predominantly during peak hours, but in general, I do not see any issues with Netflix being throttled on my connection. I have used the Streaming Manager feature on the Windows Netflix interface to check my streaming and buffering speed, using the Netflix "Example Short 23.976" clip (which also displays the streaming speed on screen) and so far have not come across any problems, but I am going to continue to monitor it from time to time.

I'm not trying to deny that you are having problems, but it may be possible that there is network congestion or routing issues at some point along the path your stream is taking that is causing you problems. They may be internal to the Comcast network or external. At this point, there is no way of knowing. If there are such problems, it may be the case that some agreement (or disagreement) between Comcast and one of it's peers may be preventing any action from being taken to correct them, and it is resulting in perceived throttling. Comcast representatives on these forums have stated many times that they are not throttling Netflix. I can't prove or disprove that statement, but in my case, the evidence does point to support of it. Your evidence shows that you can stream effectively over another ISPs connection, but not over Comcast's, but in my opinion, I don't think it conclusively proves that Comcast are deliberately throttling your Netflix traffic. You can't specifically point to a device in the path your traffic takes and say 'Ah ha...that is where my traffic is being throttled'.

I am not taking sides on this, just pointing out the facts that I see, and I understand that you do have a less than satisfactory experience. I feel for you, because it is frustrating to not be able to use the technology in the way it is intended, and it is our intent here to try to help out whenever possible. Sometimes there is just nothing we can do,and Comcast presence on these forums is limited.

If you do file a complaint with the FCC, please let us know what happens. I am sure there are many interested parties.

[#21]

Very late last night around 2AM, I watched en entire movie on Netflix and a 1080 HD streaming signal the entire time!  Seems that that whatever is happening during "peak" times, is not on "off peak" times.  I will say it was nice to actually watch something from Netflix that looked almost Blu-ray quality for a change!

[#22]

Well, 

It's not only Netflix stream getting throttled during peak hours, it's SlingBox streaming as well.

And I can prove it too. And I'm not looking for an answer, just feeling the pain of the Netflix users.

Till Sunday (12/05/2013) my Sling was working fantastic (2,500Kbps - HD Quality) for the past 1.5 years. Then, there was a service interruption on Sunday night (Naperville, IL) and when everything got resolved on Monday, my speed dropped like a rock. I can’t get more than 250Kbps during peak hours.

Early in the morning (7-8 a.m.) everything is fine and I can watch with 2,500. At lunch time things starts slowing down and at 6p.m. I can barely connect with 250Kbps.

And it doesn't matter on which device (Boxee, PC, ipad), it's the same thing.

Of course there was several connecting/disconnecting, turning on/off, everything you can think of.

Why do I think it’s Comcast:

1. When I VPN to my work machine (different ISP provider) I still get the previous high speed 2,500k, at the same time when at home comcast it’s 250Kbps.
2. I called a friend who uses WOW, same thing – 2,500.
3. I called another friend with Clear, same thing – 2,500.
4. I called a 3rd friend with Comcast, who is 50 miles away – 250Kbps!

So, it’s not just me getting throttled, it’s all Comcast users.

I called customer service several times and they told me since my Speed test is fine, everything is fine.

I’ll be switching providers, there is no other solution.

I may complain to Illinois Attorney General for paying for something which I’m not getting.

[#23]

Just had Comcast X2 service installed in central NJ with an Arris TG862G/CT modem.  Been struggling with some random seeming drop offs for signal from the modem for various devices.

But my biggest complaint tracks the trend here.

Netflix to a Vizio TV which had worked fine through the TVs app can't seem to get much higher than 480SD even with a fairly strong 8-10MB WiFi speed using SpeedTest right next to TV.    More often than not its dows to 256SD I think.  This seems to apply whenever I've tried it from 3pm to 11pm.  Drop offs happen often enough that a one hour show will stop 2-4 times to rebuffer.

I had assumed it was a problem with the Arris router and had been looking into suggestions that a separate wireless N router was the solution.  

I had hoped that perhaps it was a Vizio issue and that running Netflix through Apple TV will help potentially as well.

Am I understanding the thread's general consensus that there is something going on between Netflix and Comcast that a separate router won't make any difference?

If that is the case, then basicly, we are stuck hoping that Comcast will eventually do something about this?

[#24]

Little bit of an update.  After reading leetroys post and the transcript he posted from Netflix it spurred me to do the same.  This very well could turn into a bigger story, time will tell.  

His post also jogged my memory that this began after we experienced a late night outage where the modem wouldn't connect and just kept cycling. I attempted to reset without any luck so I went off to bed  and in the morning it was working fine again, except for Netflix.  

The following is a portion of a chat with Netflix support on 12/12/2013.

"Netflix Perrie

I understand now can we try one more time an stream a HD title right now an let me know how it looks.

Netflix Perrie

Try Avengers or House of Cards please.

You

Ok I'm playing the Avengers right now and it's at the lowest quality setting. Stream manager indicates playing 235 Buffering 235

…

Netflix Perrie

What I suggest since you have done ALL the steps would next to be contact your ISP an find out what is going on when we connect to the app from any of those devices.

Netflix Perrie

They will be able to give further knowledge an check the settings on that end to make sure it is all connected properly.

You

I have already contacted Comcast and they checked and say my connection is good. Other services like Hulu, Amazon, and Youtube play HD video without a problem.

You

I just did a speed test while streaming the Avengers and It shows 28Mbps down and 5.7Mbps up

…

Netflix Perrie

Who is your ISP?

...

You

Comcast

Netflix Perrie

AHhhh

Netflix Perrie

Ok this makes sense.

Netflix Perrie

Now Comcast are actually in a HUGE lawsuit with there customers right now for Thottling there connection an service... So what I am going to recommend for you is to speak with a manage on that end an let them know that you know about the lawsuit an want more info on how to get a better connection coming from there.

…

Netflix Perrie

Yeah we are getting tons of chats about it an only the Comcast ISP users are the only ones that are having this trouble with the HD issue.

…

Also just found something REALLY strange here.

Netflix Perrie

When I select the show you just played avengers I see the ISP showing for Amazonaws.com an then an error - Error: SLW32-XR466MHV5X83YAYLRD4VQX7G10"

*Emphasis mine.

Maybe post this to reddit. Yea, that's a good idea, they love this kind of madness.  Why do you do these things Comcast? Just play nice and things would be so much easier for you.  Wouldn't it be nice to NOT have to worry if you will retake your title of worst company in America this year?  I understand Netflix is eating up your bandwidth but there is a reason for that - It's an excellent service with no advertisements at an affordable monthly price.  All you offer is bloated TV packages that always end up costing more than they guy tells you when you ask  point blank "How much will it cost per month with everything included in there, boxes, rental, HD, blah blah".  

You have an impressive infrastructure, it's almost always been great for me but this is just not how you do things.  If you and Netflix would just get along, let them help you alleviate the strain on your network, (they offered for free, come on!), and don't try to sabotage their CDN.

What's even more disturbing is that the story about Comcast extorting a fee out of Level 3 to carry video streams (specifically Netflix) over their network came out the day before this all started (11/30/13)  Seems that Comcast didn't hold up their end of the agreement.

[#25]

Had the same issues with Netflix (on Apple TV) streaming at the lowest quality (NW Burbs Chicagoland), long buffer times to start, a second longer buffer pause just seconds into the video; and got fed up last night.

Found a program to download to my computer that will check various DNS servers for the fastest ones near you. Gave it a whirl, found a dozen or so DNS servers that were much faster than Comcast (and faster than Google).

Went into my router and assigned it two of the fastest servers that weren't Comcast as static DNS servers.

It took a couple minutes for my router to rebuild its DNS tables (or I assume that's what it did since the net was unavailable for a couple minutes after reboot). Went back to the Apple TV and tried the next episode of the series I was watching...

... Glorious and amazing HD! And ZERO buffering!! I kept waiting all episode for the Apple TV to pause and downgrade the picture quality, but it never did.


I hope this wasn't just a fluke, but I did notice that the AppleTV didn't need to "authorizing Netflix" when loading the app. It just worked like it used to.


My hypothesis: Comcast's DNS servers have an issue connecting to Netflix's, and since "everything is good on everyone else's end," no one knows where the problem is.

Or, Comcast is DNS blocking Netflix's HD. Pick your theory.

[#26]

I tried the above solution and it works!! NO buffering and HD quality video! Hope it lasts.....

[#27]

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nmuwildcat wrote:
Went into my router and assigned it two of the fastest servers that weren't Comcast as static DNS servers.

It took a couple minutes for my router to rebuild its DNS tables (or I assume that's what it did since the net was unavailable for a couple minutes after reboot). Went back to the Apple TV and tried the next episode of the series I was watching...

... Glorious and amazing HD! And ZERO buffering!! I kept waiting all episode for the Apple TV to pause and downgrade the picture quality, but it never did.

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I tried this and it apears to be working!!!!! I'm watching an HD show on Amazon prime now and it only buffered a few times and very, very briefly (less than a second) each time.  Much better than the 10+ second delays I was experiencing before.  I will experiment with different DNS servers to see if I can remove the delay completely.

Thanks for the great tip nmuwildcat!

[#28]

I just tried that and it didn't help. I wish Comcast and Netflix would stop being babies and work together to fix this.

[#29]

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nmuwildcat wrote:
Found a program to download to my computer that will check various DNS servers for the fastest ones near you. Gave it a whirl, found a dozen or so DNS servers that were much faster than Comcast (and faster than Google).

Went into my router and assigned it two of the fastest servers that weren't Comcast as static DNS servers.

... Glorious and amazing HD! And ZERO buffering!!

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As someone who's not a networking wiz, could you tell me the program you used and where to find it, and how to change the router's DNS assignments?

This sounds promising!  Thanks!

[#30]

I found this program and found 2 new dns servers in Chicago: http://code.google.com/p/namebench/  however after updating my DNS nameservers, the issue persisted.

I was a little confused as to how this would solve the problem.  Once the DNS name is resolved, like netflix.com to some IP, why would the streaming client (my blueray player in this case) want to try to resolve the DNS name again?

[#31]

Changing DNS servers did not work for me. I tried many servers: OpenDNS, Google, Comcast, Level3, etc.. I'm not seeing any difference. I also ran the GRC DNS Benchmark test, and tried servers I know are close to me. No dice.

All of my devices are stuck at 235-375kbps. That's not even SD quality.  A couple months ago I was getting beautiful HD video on all my devices.

Can someone from Comcast please respond? Where do we go from here?

[#32]

N/M Delete...

[#33]

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ComcastJohnN wrote:

I'll say it again: No, Comcast is not throttling Netflix.

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Then what explains why I cannot stream in HD connected to Comcast yet when I tether my phone to the same PC, I get the HD indicator within 15 seconds? Switch back to Comcast, no HD. Switch to tethered connection, HD right away.

I'm not accusing Comcast of throttling but something is definitely not right and many people are being affected.

BTW, I'm getting 28 down and 6 up on both Comcast's and Speedtest.net's bandwidth meters.

[#34]

The Internet is more than just Comcast. Unless you're watching services that originate on the Comcast network, they have to traverse other service provider networks to get to you. There may be problems somewhere between you and the Netflix streaming servers that are causing noticeable degradation of your viewing experience, but that alone does not point to Comcast as the root cause. It's certainly necessary to investigate because there could be problems anywhere in the path, but Comcast is not throttling Netflix traffic. A quick Google search will show that customers of other providers (like Verizon) have similar issues with Netflix and they thought the same thing of their provider, that they were throttling that particular traffic, but that just wasn't the case. 

Believe me, I know it's frustrating. I usually get good results from where I live but I occasionally run into poor Netflix performance, as well. It just seems to depend on which path the traffic is taking to get to Comcast. Even though they'll likely blame Comcast, I would recommend continuing to complain to Netflix. 

[#35]

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ComcastJohnN wrote:

The Internet is more than just Comcast. Unless you're watching services that originate on the Comcast network, they have to traverse other service provider networks to get to you. There may be problems somewhere between you and the Netflix streaming servers that are causing noticeable degradation of your viewing experience, but that alone does not point to Comcast as the root cause.

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This deflection is not satisfactory. Comcast is the retailer and I am your customer. Your advising me to complain to Netflix when their service works perfectly on other carriers is akin to the grocer telling the customer who got bad fruit to complain to the farmer or trucking company. I am paying Comcast for access to the Internet at a reasonable (and advertised speed). It's your responsibility, not mine, to seek out and correct problems on your network and with those whom you contract with.

[#36]

I completely understand your frustration and point of view. As customers, we just want this stuff to work! I'm certainly not suggesting that you not complain to Comcast, as well. In fact, I recommend talking to customer service any time you're having problems with your service, so that your issues can be addressed and tracked. Even if they're not able to immediately remedy the problem, it will be logged. I think it is very important for the voices of customers to be heard and, as frustrating as the experience can be sometimes, the best way to be heard is to call customer service and talk to them.

[#37]

In this case customer service would be as usual useless they have no clue what the issue would be and will not document it at best they will pull a ticket that you will never hear the results from. In a case like this you need to go higher in the food chain to get any help at all.

[#38]

I will also have to call you out for such a pitiful attempt at deflecting the blame from Comcast.  The facts are clear, but you clearly have a reading comprehension problem.

Netflix NEVER screams faster than the lowest quality ONLY on COMCAST.

This is not some 'occasional' annoyance like you describe, this is a 100% failure of Comcast to deliver content from Netflix at the speed I am paying them for.  There really is no where else to go from here, and Comcast is by far the number one ISP that comes up when you look into poor Netflix speed.

Comcast will always maintain the policy to "Deny Everything" but I feel strongly that there are people in Comcasts management that know EXACTLY what is going on here, likely part of a trial run to purge Netflix users from it's service.  Would be fairly easy if you did a staged rollout to clog the paths Netflix uses in certain areas each time forcing the customer to cancel one service or the other.  Most people would cancel Netflix as that's the only thing that seems to have a problem, but there are plenty of people who are not that easily fooled.

[#39]

I can also say Comcast is indeed doing something shady with Netflix. For the past two months I have been having the same issue with not being able to stream HD content with Netflix. Though HBO, YouTube, Amazon, etc all stream flawlessly in HD. I read a previous post when someone contacted Netflix so I decided to try myself to see what kind of response I'd get. Here is part of that conversation, take it however you want.

"You

Hello, I've been a customer for years and lately with my streaming I've not been able to stream in HD on a single device in my home. I'm curious if you can shed any light with Comcast throttling your service?

Netflix Brandon

Alrighty. I can surely look into that here for you. Who do I have the pleasure of chatting with today?

You

I can stream HBO, Amazon, etc all in HD with no issue. My name is J.

Netflix Brandon

Nice to meet you J. Hope your day is going good. I have some light to shed for sure on this with personal experience on this.

You

Would be much appreciated.

Netflix Brandon

Okay So I was having the same issues as you. I could not get any HD on anything was supposed to be getting 50mbps and still no HD I can understand on WIFI maybe but I was directly connected. and still no HD. They always told me that everything is fine I read alot of articles online that they throttle we are a competitor of them so it made sense.

Netflix Brandon

I had them come out and everything still no change. I finally changed ISP with a slower mbps plan on it and have not had issues at all

Netflix Brandon

It was just weird that I'm supposedly getting 56mbps but could not get HD. Working here have seen a same issues with Comcast and with my experience same thing so I'm seeing it being true just by with my experience "

The conversation went on to what both of us have tried to fix the issue but at the end of the day, I'm ditching Comcast and the new service will be installed Thursday. 

[#40]

Are you employed by Comcast as your username implies?

[#41]

DNS would have nothing to do with it. When you try to play something, a name lookup would only need to be done once, and even on a "slow" DNS we're talking about a fraction of a second. DNS isn't something that could affect your Netflix experience throughout a stream.

[#42]

Couldn't using different / third party DNS servers cause one's internet routing / connection to be directed to different / farther away CDN's / server farms ?

These days DNS does more than mere name resolution.

[#43]

I did attempt about a dozen different DNS servers with a 'faster' connection but it made no difference.  Result is the same, Netflix streams at the lowest quality setting, only with Comcast.

DNS is unrelated to the issue I'm experiencing.

I have someone with the @ComcastCares Twitter elevating the issue, but I have yet to hear back from anyone.  I will keep everyone here posted as I'm sure there are many people experincing this problem and are eager for a soultion that's not "Cancel Netflix" or "Cancel Comcast".  I am leaning towards the latter as that is the only vote that really counts. $

[#44]

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EG wrote:

Couldn't using different / third party DNS servers cause one's internet routing / connection to be directed to different / farther away CDN's / server farms ?

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Yes, which I realized. I was only arguing that the speed of the DNS wouldn't impact the ongoing performance of the Netflix stream because the lookup would only happen once.

[#45]

I am also growing suspicious of Comcast/Netflix, leading to my post:

http://forums.comcast.com/t5/Basic-Internet-Connectivity-And/Awful-Netflix-Performance-Fine-on-VPN-T...

Long story short, after logging into my office VPN, netflix performance is up to normal . The bandwidth measurement stat is 5-20 times that of when I am not signed into the VPN.

I'm completely open to other potential configuration issues that may be causing this (on multiple Windows and OSX machines).

[#46]

I am adding myself to the skeptical list. 

Between my room mate and myself we have every device imaginable in the apartment and we have two seperate Netlix accounts. We also have very high speed internet. At any given time, even with all the devices, we are only using a few at a time and my $200 router and modem setup combined with my high level internet should be able to handle it. YET when it comes to the DVD players, two different players, we both lose access to reliable Netlifx streaming during the evening hours. None of the other devices are affected (Ipad, Iphone, Android Phone, Galacy Tablet, video game systems, desktop, laptop and a few other small devices. I am an Android guy and he is an Apple guy so we have both set ups.) 

I understand Comcast has issues with speed sometimes in areas during prime hours but that does not explain the lag on the DVD players that work like a charm any other time of the day. 

I do not trust Comcast much as everytime I have an issue their first response is to blame the hardware I am using, as long as its not the one you rent from them. When I had an issue a few months ago with all my internet they insisted it was my internal network and refused to admit it might have been something their technition had done previously. I finally got fed up and told them I had worked in technology for over ten years and am quite capable of setting up a router... they finally sent someone out and it turns out it was their fault outside. So it is not shocking to me that this issue "must be" the fault of Netflix or the DVD players. I will take the advice of someone else on here and send an email to the FCC (I found this by Googling Comcast blocking Netflix after I have had the same issue for the past few weeks.) I would not be shocked if their was a hidden throttling mechanism somewhere for specific types of devices that are easily tricked. 

[#47]

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Mattfrank81 wrote:

-snip-

  when it comes to the DVD players, two different players, we both lose access to reliable Netlifx streaming during the evening hours. None of the other devices are affected (Ipad, Iphone, Android Phone, Galacy Tablet, video game systems, desktop, laptop and a few other small devices.

-snip- 

 I would not be shocked if their was a hidden throttling mechanism somewhere for specific types of devices that are easily tricked. 

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Logic would suggest that if ALL your other devices don't experience this issue at the time when the DVD payers ARE experiencing the slowdowns, that there isn't a general blocking or throttling of netflix at least to your residence, & that at least your connection  (between connected endpoints) to netflix is fine, but there is something else going on that is yet to be identified.

Separately re the issue generally, I have to wonder why people that do contact netflix, just unquestioningly accept what netflix says when they claim "its not us!" & point at everyone else.

Netflix at this point should still be just as suspect as any other cause.

Also netflix would have more motivation than any other entity to engage in "traffic management"/shaping/throttling, especially during peak usage periods.  Netflix would surely have the ability to detect the kind of device that connects, and limit by groups/classes of device, certain peers, or in anyway they want.

.

[#48]

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dj280 wrote:

Logic would suggest that if ALL your other devices don't experience this issue at the time when the DVD payers ARE experiencing the slowdowns, that there isn't a general blocking or throttling of netflix at least to your residence, & that at least your connection  (between connected endpoints) to netflix is fine, but there is something else going on that is yet to be identified.

Separately re the issue generally, I have to wonder why people that do contact netflix, just unquestioningly accept what netflix says when they claim "its not us!" & point at everyone else.

Netflix at this point should still be just as suspect as any other cause.

Also netflix would have more motivation than any other entity to engage in "traffic management"/shaping/throttling, especially during peak usage periods.  Netflix would surely have the ability to detect the kind of device that connects, and limit by groups/classes of device, certain peers, or in anyway they want.

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Which is why Netflix offers OpenConnect FOR FREE to ISPs, so that traffic, peering, and congestion between providers becomes a non issue. It's a win for customers. Instead, Comcast has declined to participate, because by doing so it can get paid by CDNs (and probably get a chance to promote its own products and offerings). It boils down to money. If Comcast wanted to really solve the issue, they'd either take up OpenConnect, or fix their peering issues. Neither of which they've taken steps towards because there's monetary loss in both of those choices. 

See traffic patterns for Time Warner, I know for fact Comcast looks exactly the same re: peaks and dips during primetime:

http://blog.netflix.com/2013/11/new-netflix-prime-time-isp-performance.html

And this month Comcast drops yet another spot in rankings:

http://blog.netflix.com/2013/12/netherlands-tops-netflix-isp-speed-index.html

[#49]

OpenConnect as described, (locating it on the ISP servers, or the customer side of the ISP),  Violates net neutrality, & the concept of net neutrality, and would create unfair competition to other Video Providers.  

If OpenConnect is inplace outside of Comcast network, then its just another CDN to be accessed same as Akamai  or any other CDN, in which case there Nothing required of Comcast.

.

[#50]

You obviously have not read all the posts here. When you can get good speed from netflix on other isp servers while at the same time get crawling speeds from Netflix coming from Comcast then the obvious answer is Comcast is the demon.

I have 6.0 mbs from Netflilx using my wimpie DSL connection.  At the same time I am getting .5 from netflix using COmcast.

Who would you blame?