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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: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:39PM (6 children)
There is a lot of good content on YoutTube, it isn't just useless fluff.
I pay for 150MBps and 1TB/month, after which they reserve the right to throttle my trafic. Until I exceed 1TB in any given month, they should leave my traffic alone . . .
(Score: 1) by stroucki on Friday September 14 2018, @02:22AM
After you've paid YT, then your ISP takes a cut.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @03:29AM
"Should"
Without the vpn Netflix stalls or drops out. Up to 7 times an hour.
With vpn it sometimes stalls or drops. Maybe one a day.
Go figure.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday September 14 2018, @04:43AM (3 children)
Sue them then.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @02:17PM (2 children)
Wait, use the Government to fix a "free market" problem? What kind of li ertarian are you??? Oh ya, the hypocritical kind.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday September 14 2018, @02:39PM
When your provider breaks their contract with you by providing intentionally degrading parts of your service? Absolutely. Enforcing contracts is something the government should unquestionably be doing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday September 14 2018, @06:28PM
What are you smoking? Enforcing contracts and national defense are the only things Libertarians say the government should be doing.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"