Netflix Urged To Slow Down Streaming To Stop the Internet From Breaking (cnn.com) 199
The European Union is urging Netflix and other streaming platforms to stop showing video in high definition to prevent the internet from breaking under the strain of unprecedented usage due to the coronavirus pandemic. From a report: With so many countries on forced lockdowns to fight the spread of the virus, hundreds of millions working from home and even more children out of school, EU officials are concerned about the huge strain on internet bandwidth. European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who is responsible for the EU internal market covering more than 450 million people, tweeted Wednesday evening that he had spoken with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Breton called on people and companies to "#SwitchtoStandard definition when HD is not necessary" in order to secure internet access for all. "Commissioner Breton is right to highlight the importance of ensuring that the internet continues to run smoothly during this critical time," the Netflix spokesperson said. "We've been focused on network efficiency for many years, including providing our open connect service for free to telecommunications companies."
The EU, not enough Internet? Unpossible! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The EU, not enough Internet? Unpossible! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: The EU, not enough Internet? Unpossible! (Score:3)
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That's the joke, but the reality is Netflix has built a huge CDN in the US with servers very close to the edge. I suspect they're more centralized in the EU.
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If they weren't designed to handle this uptick, then they weren't designed to handle the next few years of growth of Netflix, which would be pretty silly. The mantra is always "design for 5 years of growth, architect for 10".
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There is an AR-14. It is used by the Republic of Surea Armed Forces and replaced the M16A1 in 2002.
So, while we know he MEANT AR-15...the AR-14 is a suitable substitute.
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His signature about the AR-14 is a joke and you just don't get it. Look up Joe Biden's "gaffes" and you'll find out about it.
He could combine 2 AR-7s into a double barrelled AR-14 and use a 100rd .22 drum mag.
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And you know, I think we Americans are actually pretty good at holding our tongues. We get chastized regularly, but while they can dish it out, they can't take it
Did you just contradict yourself? “Americans are good at holding out tongues that we get chastised regularly for not hold our tongues?” 1) No, Americans are not good at that. We Americans have opinions about everything: freedom of speech, baby! 2) one consequence is that people can also criticize what we say. It seems like you would like it both ways: you can say whatever but no one dare say anything against you.
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Umm, no. He was saying we're chastised for perceived faults - even when we hold our tongue about it.
And is that really true? Many Americans are pretty vocal about everything including the current President.
We're chastised for "evil, profit-based" healthcare, yet our mortality rate per 1 million people [powerlineblog.com] is a fraction of nearly every nation in the EU
1) That is just a chart on death rate of corona virus not about death rate in general. If you compared overall death rate, the US does not fare as well as some EU countries. 2) The death rate in the link is deaths per population not deaths per infected case. If you look at deaths per case, the US is worse than some of the EU like Germany, Norway, etc. Contributing to this is the fact that the US cannot
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You just keep telling yourself that.
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How I wish your second sentence will be true. I have a feeling it really won't be. Stay positive, it's better for everyone if you're right about that.
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#SwitchToReading (Score:5, Funny)
Don't shame people into standard def video, shame them into reading. Downloading all of Project Gutenberg is probably 4.5 seconds of Game of Thrones or whatever.
For that matter, start telling people to get out and plant a garden. Even an apartment balcony can grow some herbs and maybe a tomato plant. Getting out in the sun is a good thing too, we don't get enough vitamin D.
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You get plenty of vitamin D. It's in your milk and probably your flour. You get it whether you like it or not. Just like iodine.
I'm KETO you insensitive clod!
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Maybe the balcony can, but I can't. One time when my parents came to visit, I took them to visit the botanical garden and my mother bought me a rosemary plant from its shop. The plant died within a month. What really hurts is that it grows merrily on the nearby hills despite them not getting any more rain than my balcony.
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Not so fast. Plants on the nearby hills probably have several meters of earth underneath them, and are not in a rain shadow from a house.
Try a larger pot next time, or buy a self-watering solution where you only need to top up once in a while.
When people don't understand the Internet (Score:5, Informative)
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I don't think there are the circumstances they were planning for though.
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The current version of these edge CDN servers can dish out almost 200gbps of traffic PER NODE. Netflix gives these edge nodes out FOR FREE to ISPs. If they don't have them, it is the ISPs fault. We've known for the past decade that video bandwidth is a high cost, Netflix solved that problem, and it was up to the ISPs to accept that solution.
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"640K is more memory than anyone will ever need on a computer,"
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I don't think there are the circumstances they were planning for though.
In engineering, it is always prudent to way overdesign systems.
In accounting and finance, state the budget and get engineering to work within those constraints.
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Yeah but due to EU's content restrictions, many users are forced to use a VPN so they can access the actual uncensored catalog.
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No is forced to do that, they choose to do that.
Re:When people don't understand the Internet (Score:4, Informative)
It's not censorship that drives users to VPNs (the only thing I know of that's been removed in Europe was Night of the Living Dead in Germany for some reason), it's licencing. "Sorry not available in your country" tends to annoy people.
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There are only a couple things censored in (parts of) Europe. There are many things not available on Netflix in the US because the producers refuse to license them as they run their own streaming services. For example: Star Trek Discovery, Family Guy, Titans.
Re:When people don't understand the Internet (Score:5, Interesting)
My ISP runs a Netflix OCA and it's great. I get ~900Mbps to Netflix and 2ms ping times.
On the one hand, I see how it's a preference given to a particular service, but there's no doubt Netflix is a monster when it comes to bandwidth use and I'm surprised more ISPs don't take them up on it.
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I'm surprised more ISPs don't take them up on it.
Greed!!!
Even though this costs Netflix a lot of money they offer it to ISPs for free because they know a good user experience means a happy customer and they need to maintain their customer base. AT&T being the d!cks they are wouldn't allow Netflix to put their CDN on their networks unless Netflix paid AT&T!?!? AT&T kept blaming buffering on Netflix even though it was AT&T's fault. Netflix finally decided they needed to be on AT&T network so they capitulated and agreed to pay AT&T f
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My ISP also has a local netflix cache that works wonderfully.
Also the closest interconnect to a google datacenter is only three hops away 'as the network cable flys'
What these policy makers are missing is that any ISP transferring netflix streams over the internet itself, are ISPs that have specifically and intentfully chosen to do so.
So long as any actual policy made reflects this detail I see no problem with it.
ISPs that chose to transfer that content over the internet can be throttled at the source. Doi
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When YOU don't understand the Internet. (Score:2)
It is the localized networks that get overcharged! Becaue the local ISPs were obviously not building infrastructure to support everyone watching 4K at the same time, when that never happens in real life (not even now). They built it, to support the normal state, with a reasonable buffer for daily/weekly/yearly variations, while being cost-effective. Both because of the competition and because of shareholder demands.
This here is a rare state. The networls were not built for it. Like everyone calling everyone
edge (Score:3)
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Break or Degrade? (Score:2)
Past history with DOS type things should have them ready to adjust as necessary.
Re: Break or Degrade? (Score:2)
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I think that is an anathema to the Net Neutrality supporters....
That is not at all any part of Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality revolves around the notion that bandwidth should not be shaped based solely on where the packets are coming from, or where the packets are headed. For example, packets coming from Walmart should not be throttled by an ISP just because Walmart hasn't paid a fee to the ISP to prioritize Walmart's packets.
ISP's should be a neutral transporter of data packets.
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I think that makes sense.
I'm also thinking they could lower the resolution and greatly reduce bandwidth usage. Video players used to sense bandwidth (including packet dropping) and auto-adapt. Not sure if that mechanism is still in place, but I think it would fix the problem.
Unless the video becomes useless, then there's just an oversell of capacity.
The fucking EU (Score:2, Insightful)
They really don't understand anything, do they?
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Fuck that shit, I can't wait any fucking second, I need to watch something now! For this reason, I'm switching to quarter-SD.
Automatic throttling (Score:5, Interesting)
The Netflix client software already automatically throttles bandwidth and will only use the highest quality that can stream uninterrupted. If the internet in general degrades due to Netflix it will also self-correct for this very reason. Same with Youtube. And Amazon Prime Video, and.... you get the idea.
That is nit the problem. (Score:2)
Th
That is not the problem. (Score:2)
There are other people and things using the Internet too, you know?
Netflix is eating up more than it should.
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More than it should? What should people choose to do with their Internet connections? How much bandwidth should streaming use?
Neither Netflix or end users are doing anything wrong by streaming. Bandwidth is not crude oil or fresh water, it doesn't get "used up". What ISPs should be doing is recognizing that putting Netflix OCAs [netflix.com] in their NOCs (and equivalents from other services) is not only a good idea but a way to significantly increase network performance. With an OCA a lot of content comes from the cache
DDOSing the Internet from a single site? (Score:2)
Does the Internet infrastructure really have no separation built into its pipes? If Chrome starts going crazing and demanding 100% of my CPU, Chrome crashes, not my computer. I would of assumed that requesting large amounts of data from a single site could slow down local traffic, but could never crash the Internet as a whole with only 1 site getting requests and relatively few of those.
Also the consumer of data seems like the prefect passive Internet user to me, and far less disruptive than some P2P user c
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And like everywhere the ISPs have way more paying customers than their infrastructure can support. So they rely on the hope that at no point in time everyone is going to download large amounts of data at the same time. In times like this it could get problematic.
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You must be new here. /. used to DDOS entire sites off the internet, been a while since that happened though.
Netflix rationing... (Score:2)
Fantastic.
It's theater (Score:3)
I'm not convinced this ask makes any sense (Score:3)
- People are generally either watching Netflix OR working. Very rarely do you get both at the same time.
- Netflix usage is low during working hours but high in the evenings
- Work-from-home usage is high during working hours but low in the evenings
- Work-from-home traffic is likely a lot less than Netflix traffic. Company VPNs, Skype etc will use a lot less bandwidth than Netflix content.
I also read a couple of days ago [theregister.co.uk] that ISPs have already commented something similar; They can already handle Netflix fine, so the work-from-home addition to the networks really isn't a problem.
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And they told me I was an idiot for buying a Mac. Who's laughing now, COVID-19!
Social media enables idiocracy (Score:2)
Random dude sees chance to get name in spotlight (Score:2)
(...) while there has been a sharp increase in internet usage, no outages or adverse affects have so far been reported (...)
That's what the article says and that's how it is. The rest of the article is noise at best. This Thierry dude sent a Tweet. That's it. Thierry sending a Tweet is not stuff that matters, at least not to us, but obviously it matters to Thierry, who would like the whole world to know that he spoke to the CEO of Netflix.
Apart from some isolated cases of incompetent ISPs that never worked fine to begin with and my own 17 year old WiFi network, the Internet is Just Fine.
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As a throttled mobile user ... (8kB/s, 28MB/h) (Score:2)
You get used to 144p. Don't worry. I've watched worse VHS.
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Two possible replies:
"144p is still better than scrambled cable porn."
"You get used to it, though. Your brain does the translating. I don't even see the pixels. All I see is blonde, brunette, redhead."
Caused by Ajit Pai! (Score:3)
https://arstechnica.com/inform... [arstechnica.com]
Less investment directly means not increasing backbone bandwidth. This is what happens when Oligarchs and Corporations set policy rules, they rules to enrich themselves over benefit or needs of the people they are supposed to serve and who pay their salaries.
Are anyone having problems? (Score:2)
Most ISPs have a local Netflix server anyway?
I have been working from home for a week now and haven’t seen or heard about any problems and we have 1500 users connected through our VPN. 10x normal load.
Telework (Score:3)
Re:A problem with government in general (Score:5, Informative)
The major Internet Exchange in Europe (DE-CIX) and many others are privately operated. The goverment gave up control over almost all the lines in the 1990ies. Currently the traffic at DE-CIX is peaking around 9.1 Terabits per second and at least a reserve capacity of 25% is what they managed to sustain over decades
(COVID-19 FAQ) [de-cix.net].
Maybe your Internet is not fast enough to transmit information but only rumors and accusations.
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Why would Netflix put much load on a central exchange?
A high-def movie is about 4GB. So a 4TB HDD ($80 on Amazon) would hold 1000.
So put the 20,000 most popular movies on a 20 HDD rack located at each ISP. 99% of requests can then be watched with no traffic across any exchanges.
Netflix Open Connect [netflix.com]
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And by doing so he makes himself sound about as knowledgeable about internet technology as our dear EU politician morons.
The load is mostly on more localized infrastructure which do not have to go through those exchanges. These are mostly privately owned and they are also are notoriously overbooked, just like everywhere else. Now the problem is that people who work from home are doing that from within those localiz
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Also, use an adblocker/script blocker (e.g. uBlock and uMatrix) and a browser that supports them. Your internet experience will likely improve drama
Re:A problem with government in general (Score:5, Informative)
The largest Internet Exchange is in Brazil by the way.
The third largest exchange is in Amsterdam also privately owned.
The fourth largest one is in London, also privately owned.
The fifth and sixth largest ones are in Russia, also privately owned.
As far as Internet Exchanges go, I don't think the Europeans have a lot to worry about.
Although I could be wrong of course. But if they still do imagine how royally screwed other countries are that don't even make the top 5 list of Internet Exchanges.
Re: A problem with government in general (Score:3, Informative)
If you're using this list - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] - you might want to mention this disclaimer from the article:
"This list is not exhaustive, as it includes only exchanges willing to make traffic data public on their website. Particularly data of IXPs from the United States and China is hard to come by. "
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As it stands the claim that lots of European IXs are government owned and operated and therefore small and inferior is not backed up by any evidence.
You mean unlike US corporate monopolies? (Score:3)
Ask your fellow citizens what they think of Verizon & Co.
It has nothing to do with your wishful corporate-libertarian-fascist mindset. Sorry.
Just good old laziness and passive-reactive instead of active-proactive behavior. Same reason the well is only closed after the kid has fallen in.
Pork spending and profit greed aside.
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This sounds exactly like giant corporations in the US, they won't expand capacity for anything except the most lucrative markets and now that it's too late they don't care. Of course, in the US the corporations actually are the government...
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This is Slashdot. American anti-EU types (and I'm not even sure why they exist) will declare any kind of nonsense and bullshit to attack them there evil soshulists in Europe.
Net Neuterality (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: Net Neuterality (Score:2)
It's a paid shill. They abound.
Re: Net Neuterality (Score:5, Insightful)
What exactly do you think the laws and regulations actually proposed did?
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1. If the internet in the eu breaks under the load whos infrastructure is shitty?
Let's wait and see what happens when the USA locks down its entire population before continuing this discussion, shall we?
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1. Infrastructure is built with a certain traffic load prediction and cost balances. There is no such thing as infinite capacity. The shift in data loaded was not foreseen and therefore not accounted for. With such a large shift in data usage, the only way to allow everyone to get access to reduce excessive usage . This is no different from road infrastructure in many ways, where trucks aren’t allowed to use certain roads at certain times.
2. If the state provides the directive, then Netflix is not do
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This is a good solution.
For 0,0001% of users.
Get real.
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Ever heard of acts of nature? (Score:3)
Nobody is obliged to obey a contract, if a big catastrophe makes is simply impossible and unreasonable to demand.
Every sane legal system has this provision.
You're being an unrasonable selfish dick. With your first world problems.
It certainly isn't Netflix's fault. You can bet that they do what they can. If the pipe's too thin the pipe's too thin. (Same reason the average Slashdotter can't leave the basement. ;))
The reasonable solution, is that e.g. you get a quarter as much bandwith (so, full HD), and also
Freezes? (Score:2)
Germany has 18 degrees Celsius right now. Normal temperatures would be around 8-10, maybe 12, for this time of the year.
Is it that cold in the US right now?
Truly Morons in Comments (Score:2)
It IS the local networks that get overcharged! And the CDNs too.
PROTIP: They built for a reasonable usage. This is an unusual state. Your local node down the road might simply get overwhelmed. Only P2P with largr caches and preferring local peers could help there.
I bet you're a true ... voter ... aren't you?
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Strawman argument. (Score:2)
They were fining what is factually organized crime! Thieves that did harm us all!
Are you seriously arguing *for* our enemies harming us, and *for* organized crime?
Is your brain still wet from the corporate-crime washing? How American are you??
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Netflix is essential so that people won't lose their fucking mind when they're on the 25th week of lockdown.