Netflix not streaming on Fios! archived

Jun 17, 2014 at 4:20pm
The past two days our Netflix has gotten so slow that we can no longer watch anything - a one hour OITNB takes two hours to watch. Are we the only ones?
i've been watching it here with no problem. streaming it on my computer and then using chrome cast to send it to the tv

Netflix and Verizon are having a pissing match. Google "Netflix Verizon Congestion." We're experiencing the same problem too, just in the last couple of days. OITNB has looked like a fifth generation VHS copy, it's so low-res.

Same problem here. It's so irritating and in ready to cancel both services.

I thought we were paying for the "best" internet?! What's a better option than Fios?

I dumped Verizon and went to comcast. The speed is fine and we stream a lot. But not for tv. We do directv. I can't stand doing business when they have such atrocious customer service.

We also have FIOS. Netflix has been a little sluggish. Is this a continuing problem, or just a blip?

I keep wondering what happened to me. I grew up happy with 4 channels and now I hate all of these companies but I don't want to give up my dvr. How did they get me like this?

FilmCarp said:

I keep wondering what happened to me. I grew up happy with 4 channels and now I hate all of these companies but I don't want to give up my dvr. How did they get me like this?


When I grew up, we had 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and a couple of UHF channels. A few years ago, I cut back to basic cable (but added TCM), and I hate that I don't have any channels! ;-)

I'm sorry about your Fios issues. Hope they resolve THEIR issues ASAP!

FilmCarp said:

I keep wondering what happened to me. I grew up happy with 4 channels and now I hate all of these companies but I don't want to give up my dvr. How did they get me like this?


The hardest thing for me about ditching cable entirely was that I was going to miss the DVR. But now we watch everything streaming on Netflix or Prime or Hulu and don't even miss the DVR anymore.

I'm sorry you guys are having issues. It's so frustrating that they are taking out their issues on the customers!

Enjoy your new so called "Net Neutrality".

http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-what-you-need-know-now

marcsiry said:

Netflix and Verizon are having a pissing match. Google "Netflix Verizon Congestion." We're experiencing the same problem too, just in the last couple of days. OITNB has looked like a fifth generation VHS copy, it's so low-res.
I thought Netflix agreed to pay them off? It's a bizarre situation. Just raise the price of my internet connection or impose a cap on data use during peak periods or something.

debpod said:

I hate verizon.


Me.


TOO.

I have noticed that Nexflix is not working well when I run it through my Xbox One. However, when I switch over to my PS4 it works flawlessly. Not sure why it is.

Is anyone having issues running Netflix through their Wii?

Interesting that you all are experiencing this issue. I just found this news release fr0m about 6 weeks ago

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/for-verizon-fios-customers-netflix-streaming-is-about-to-get-speedier/

For Verizon FiOS Customers, Netflix Streaming Is About to Get Speedier

12:40 PMAPR 29 By ANDREW FLOWERS

If you watch “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black” or any other video via Netflix — and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is Verizon’s FiOS broadband network — the streaming speed will be getting faster. But how much faster? A 50 percent increase within the next month isn’t a bad guess, if Netflix’s recent deal with Comcast is any indication.

Netflix and Verizon reached a deal Monday on a “paid peering agreement,” whereby Netflix will pay Verizon an undisclosed amount to boost the streaming speed for its customers.

How can we measure Netflix’s streaming speed? Through its USA ISP Speed Index. Netflix collects data on the average speed at which Verizon, Comcast and other ISPs stream its content at peak times.

flowers-netflix

The deal is similar to one Netflix made with Comcast in February. As a result, in March, their joint customers saw their streaming speed jump nearly 50 percent — from 1.68 to 2.50 megabits per second (Mbps). Verizon FiOS currently streams Netflix content at 1.91 Mbps, but if it rises as much as Comcast’s did, it will increase to 2.84 Mbps. That would make it the second fastest of the 16 large ISPs Netflix tracks, behind Cablevision-Optimum.

A note, though: This week’s deal doesn’t appear to apply to Verizon’s slower DSL service.

One thing you should do is check your internet speed regularly. You can do this at speedtest.net .

I have had ridiculously slow speeds at times 2mbps (when i pay for 50mbs). Resetting the router usually fixes that problem, if that doesn't work a 45 minute call to verizon is your next step.

I recently picked up Amazon's Fire TV. I don't know if it's the processor speed making buffering more efficient or just a bigger buffer from the memory, but Netflix loads stupid fast relative to my smart tv and when it does buffer (much much much less than the tv did) it gets caught up in seconds or even fractions of a second.

I've noticed it's more apt to step down quality at times, which is fine by me- I'd rather loose a little clarity for a minute than stop dead like I used to.

You know what? Product review! I love this stupid thing. The voice search is amazing, although it won't work on Netflix till later this year when Netflix gets their library voice searchable. For Amazon Vid and a bunch of other services it works great- I search for favorite bands and from a bunch of different services (Vimeo, Vivo) a bunch of concerts I've never seen popped up. Great fun!

So yeah cross platform voice search is huge. And it's way fast yes. I also got it free for 30 days with free shipping back if I hate it. That sort of confidence in a product by a company gets my attention. Sure enough, they won't have to worry about return shipping- this thing is going nowhere.

Scott, that release predates the recent troubles I'm referencing- here's something dated June 9th:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2361680/netflix-wont-budge-in-dispute-with-verizon-over-video-quality.html

Netflix won't budge in dispute with Verizon over video quality

John Ribeiro

Netflix defended its error messages to customers that blamed Verizon Communications’ network, despite a cease-and-desist notice from the broadband service provider.

In a reply to Verizon, Netflix’s General Counsel David Hyman wrote on Monday that the message cited by Verizon merely lets Netflix customers know that the Verizon network is crowded. Netflix said it had determined that by calculating the difference between the speed at which traffic was handled during peak and non-peak hours.

The video streaming company, however, said that the limited ‘transparency’ tests that had led to customers getting the error message would end June 16, though the company would evaluate rolling it out more broadly.

Regardless of the specific test, Netflix will continue to work on ways to communicate network conditions to its consumers, Hyman wrote, suggesting that the dispute between the two companies is far from settled.

Verizon threatened to sue Netflix last week after it started displaying error messages that blamed Verizon for low-quality video streams. Users received the message that the “The Verizon network is crowded right now” and that Netflix was adjusting the video for smoother playback.

The communications company asked Netflix in a letter to cease and desist from further providing the notices to its customers. It also asked Netflix to provide a list of its customers on the Verizon network to whom it has delivered the messages along with the date and time of display and the “purported substantiation” for the message.

In the cease-and-desist letter, Verizon’s General Counsel Randal S. Milch said that traffic on the Internet is affected by other factors including Netflix’s choices on how to connect to its consumers. It quoted a Internet Phenomena blog post to say that Netflix had tried to cut costs by using a “panoply of content-distribution and other middle-man networks” to reach customers.

Hyman countered that Verizon was trying to shift blame for its network problems, citing Verizon’s unwillingness to augment its access ports to major Internet backbone providers. He said it was Verizon’s responsibility to ensure its customers get the level of service they pay for, by ensuring that the network including the interconnection points have adequate capacity to meet customer’s data demands.

In its Netflix ISP Speed Index, a monthly update on ISP performance released Monday, the video company ranked Verizon’s average speed at the bottom at number 16 in the U.S.

“Some large US ISPs are erecting toll booths, providing sufficient capacity for services requested by their subscribers to flow through only when those services pay the toll,” according to a blog post Monday by company spokesman Joris Evers. ISPs must provide sufficient capacity in their network to provide consumers the broadband experience for which they pay, he added.

Netflix recently signed an agreement with Verizon that would bring its content directly on to Verizon’s network.

“We look forward to working with Netflix to improve our mutual customers’ enjoyment of Netflix,” Verizon said in an emailed statement. The company did not comment on whether it was now considering suing Netflix.

(continued)- the wacky thing is that this is happening AFTER Netflix and Verizon signed the deal you mentioned! So, essentially Netflix is turning on Verizon for making them pay for carriage, the way they did with Comcast earlier.

Netflix is trying to make this about net neutrality, which it is not. This is not about packet prioritization, but rather streaming capacity to the end user. Charging for CDN services and interconnect is a business model almost as old as the Internet itself- entire companies like Limelight, Akamai and Level 3 are devoted to doing this work, and charging for it.

The difference is that Netflix wants that service for free from the major ISPs and is taking their complaint to the court of public opinion. Netflix has been, and continues to, play Level 3 for interconnect and delivery, but you don't see them publicly complaining about Level 3- that's because Level 3 is not publicly hated like Verizon and others are (as evidenced on this thread).

The noise has attracted Federal attention:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/13/technology/fcc-netflix-verizon/

scottgreenstone said:

Wow - so the come to an agreement in April and then in June, ***** that - gotta love Verizon.


Uh, I wouldn't be so quick to blame Verizon here. Netflix is beginning to show a pattern of disingenuous agreements and communication for their own business purposes.

I just dont understand why we cant get the service we want, when we want it. We already pay Verizon, we already pay Netflix. What else do we need to do as customers. We have no choice if we want to get internet, we pretty much HAVE to go with the people.

Even if we canceled our FIOS TV, we still would be bound to the FIOS internet to get the Netflix, so there really is absolutely no solution for customers.

I retracted that after the second part of your post appeared cheese

I don't really care who is to blame. I'm paying them both and receiving the agreed upon level of service from neither. It's getting so bad I might have to start reading books. BOOKS!

RobB said:

I don't really care who is to blame. I'm paying them both and receiving the agreed upon level of service from neither. It's getting so bad I might have to start reading books. BOOKS!


Books? Way to bring down a thread cheese

Do books stream faster?

Full Disclosure: By books I mean magazines. Any by magazines I mean Mad Magazine.

skadave said:

One thing you should do is check your internet speed regularly. You can do this at speedtest.net .

I have had ridiculously slow speeds at times 2mbps (when i pay for 50mbs). Resetting the router usually fixes that problem, if that doesn't work a 45 minute call to verizon is your next step.


I've done this. On my laptop, my download speed is somewhere in the 25 mbps range. My husband's download speed is about 47 mbps. Same router, of course. Does it make sense to reset the router for just one of us? (Haven't tested using the kids' computers.)

LMSunshine said:

skadave said:

One thing you should do is check your internet speed regularly. You can do this at speedtest.net .

I have had ridiculously slow speeds at times 2mbps (when i pay for 50mbs). Resetting the router usually fixes that problem, if that doesn't work a 45 minute call to verizon is your next step.


I've done this. On my laptop, my download speed is somewhere in the 25 mbps range. My husband's download speed is about 47 mbps. Same router, of course. Does it make sense to reset the router for just one of us? (Haven't tested using the kids' computers.)


I usually reset my router when it gets REALLLY low (Below 5mps) for an extended period of time. For you, i don't think resetting the router would work since your husband is getting 47mbps (The problem is most likely with your device).

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