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Netflix service speeds up after company agrees to pay Comcast ‘ransom’

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:46PM EST
BGR

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Following news that Comcast and Netflix had reached a deal whereby Netflix would pay the Internet Service Provider a fee in order to ensure Netflix subscribers have a smooth viewing experience, people panicked and cried that net neutrality was dead. While that’s not entirely true, what is now a matter of fact is that Netflix service performance on Comcast’s network has improved fairly substantially since the company ponied up what many refer to as a “ransom.”

As Ars Technica noted in a recent report, Netflix’s speed rankings show that service performance on Comcast’s network improved in February after declining rapidly in the previous three months.

“Netflix streamed at an average of 1.68Mbps on Comcast in the US in February, up from 1.51Mbps in January,” Ars Technica’s Josh Brodkin wrote. “The average on Comcast was above 2Mbps as recently as September, but it had gone down each month until Netflix decided to pay Comcast for a direct connection to its network.”

Netflix and Comcast struck a deal late in the month of February, so performance should improve even more moving forward.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.