Netflix has really gotten under some major ISPs’ nerves over the past few months by picking high-profile fights with both Verizon and Comcast. In an interview with The Washington Post, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings explains why he’s decided to call out ISPs for what he says is poor service and to weigh in against the controversial proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.
When it comes to calling out ISPs for delivering slow Netflix speeds, Hastings says that he thinks it’s fair to call out ISPs when their networks aren’t delivering as advertised.
“Comcast is paid for 10 megabits or 50 megabits for about $30-80,” he says. “Consumers deserve to get those speeds they pay for and Comcast is responsible for the delivery of those speeds. Comcast would like to charge us and then also charge the consumer. That’s great for their business and I don’t blame them for trying. But I don’t think that’s the right way to set it up.”
Of course, it seems that the major problem here isn’t in Comcast’s last-mile infrastructure but the interconnectivity infrastructure that connects transit providers’ backbones to ISPs’ networks. What Netflix is arguing about with Comcast and Verizon is which party should foot the bill to upgrade those connections so that Netflix’s traffic doesn’t get bottled up at choke points and can flow more freely to end users.
Elsewhere, Hastings explains why he wants to the Comcast-TWC merger to be scrapped by saying that “the idea that one company, if the merger goes through, will control half of U.S. residential Internet is a scary idea.”
The full interview is worth reading and can be found by clicking the source link below.
