The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Netflix Throttles video for users who are on AT&T and Verizon services to protect them from data overages. The company has admitted to the practice and has even said it has been doing it for the past five years. In a statement to the WSJ, Netflix says it throttles AT&T and Verizon users to “protect consumers from exceeding mobile data caps,” which may discourage future viewing. Video on competitors Sprint and T-Mobile is not throttled by Netflix, though T-Mobile’s BingeOn service does allow users to throttle themselves.
Verizon and AT&T said they don’t throttle or manipulate video content. “Verizon delivers video content at the resolution provided by the host service, whether that’s Netflix or any other provider,” a Verizon spokesman said.
“We’re outraged to learn that Netflix is apparently throttling video for their AT&T customers without their knowledge or consent,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs.
The video below demonstrates the throttling that Netflix does on AT&T and Verizon.
Many are outraged that Netflix would throttle their speeds without telling them first and that it has been happening for five years. While it is true that watching a few hours of full HD Netflix will likely eat up your mobile data, many believe the consumer should be left to decide if they want to take that risk or not. Some believe this is Netflix’s way of keeping eyes on it’s service, once people run out of data the eyes go away. Some might say Netflix is looking out more for itself than AT&T and Verizon customers. After all, Netflix accounts for 37% of all downstream traffic in North America and that is a pretty significant amount. Keeping people streaming is Netflix’s goal.
What do you think of Netflix throttling AT&T and Verizon customers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
[button link=”http://www.wsj.com/articles/netflix-throttles-its-videos-on-at-t-verizon-phones-1458857424″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: WSJ[/button]Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
