naviwins's comments

Right, Comcast is providing transit to their customers, which the aforementioned transit providers could not adequately handle. Although it is not a typical transit network it is still the only route to Comcast customers.

So, if the existing backbone transit providers are not adequate, Netflix should be and needs to be covering the cost of the bandwidth when directly peered with Comcast. Otherwise the cost of this bandwidth is transferred to Comcast customers, all of which do not use the Netflix service.

It really comes down to this... Do all Comcast subscribers deserve to pay for bandwidth that is created by the minority that uses the Netflix service? I do not believe so. The cost should be with the Netflix, they create the overhead, they should pay for it.

hmm... so Netflix paid cogent before, and now you think they should not pay Comcast for the same service? Where is your logic?

Uhm... NO!

You pay for guaranteed bandwidth within Comcast network. Not the whole internet.

Which gets back to the whole issue at hand. If Netflix wants to improve their service they need to pay for better transit. So they cut out the middleman and go directly to the source of the majority of their viewers.

This is no different than Twitch, Google, or Microsoft direct peering with Comcast. They see the value in allowing people to access their services as fast as possible, so they spend the money to do so.

This is internet 101. Netflix just wants everything for free.

I see all these people saying Comcast was feuding with cogent... that is just not the case. For anyone in the hosting business we all know cogent is the cheapest option, and a pretty spotty service as a whole. What do we do when our customers complain and complain? Well, we seek out more reliable options and spend the money needed better serve our customers.

So why does Netflix get to complain? They have already spent the money for the ridiculously one sided peering(Netflix sending tons of traffic and Comcast sending close to none). You would think Netflix would be happy to spend this money to better their service! Right? Or is it so detrimental to their cash flow that they would rather complain? They should have just told their customers "hey, we heard you were having some problems with our service, look what we did for you!"

In the end this is just a smear campaign to distract Netflix customers from the price hike that is coming. It is obvious Netflix was going to raise its subscription prices eventually. So why not point the blame to a company who is already disliked. The majority of HN seems to be pretty smart people, it would be a shame if you fell for this rather underhanded ploy.

Why would it be settlement free? Its just like any other peering agreement, If the data was symmetrical it would be free, but its not. Netflix is sending way more than its receiving.

If you were an ISP would you provide free transit to everyone? If you did, you would be out of business.

Google, Microsoft, Twitch, all directly peer with Comcast.

They are willing to do this because the transit providers can not handle their traffic efficiently. So why is Netflix complaining?