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YouTube, Netflix Videos Found to Be Slowed by Wireless Carriers
The largest U.S. telecom companies are slowing internet traffic to and from popular apps like YouTube and Netflix, according to new research from Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The researchers used a smartphone app called Wehe, downloaded by about 100,000 consumers, to monitor which mobile services are being throttled when and by whom, in what likely is the single largest running study of its kind.
Among U.S. wireless carriers, YouTube is the No. 1 target of throttling, where data speeds are slowed, according to the data. Netflix Inc.'s video streaming service, Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video and the NBC Sports app have been degraded in similar ways, according to David Choffnes, one of the study's authors who developed the Wehe app.
From January through early May, the app detected "differentiation" by Verizon Communications Inc. more than 11,100 times, according to the study. This is when a type of traffic on a network is treated differently than other types of traffic. Most of this activity is throttling. AT&T Inc. did this 8,398 times and it was spotted almost 3,900 times on the network of T-Mobile US Inc. and 339 times on Sprint Corp.'s network, the study found. The numbers are partly influenced by the size of the networks and user bases. C Spire, a smaller privately held wireless operator, had the fewest instances of differentiation among U.S. providers, while Verizon had the most.
Also at Marketing Land.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday September 13 2018, @10:46PM (6 children)
> Cat videos at 10 Mb/s are indistinguishable from cat videos at 20 Mb/s.
In a 6" screen, cat videos at 640kB/s is enough for anyone.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:05PM (5 children)
Seen one cat video? Seen them all.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @12:05AM (4 children)
We have five cats. Why would I need broadband internet to watch cats?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday September 14 2018, @12:46AM (1 child)
Didn't realize Ajit Pai was posting AC on SN
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @03:34AM
Don't be silly. He doesn't understand enough about computers to use the Internet let alone post on a forum. He thinks that the device in his pocket is just a phone. He might read a news site but only because someone put an icon on his desktop for him to click after an intern logs in for him
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday September 14 2018, @04:41AM
To mess with your five's heads when your phone starts meowing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Mykl on Friday September 14 2018, @04:48AM
You don't. You need broadband internet to upload or host stream your cat videos.