Is Comcast intentionally throttling Netflix traffic?

[NB Semi Evil Ryu]

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/netflix-slow-on-verizon-or-comcast-a-vpn-might-speed-up-that-video/

I've been using Comcast's internet service for over two years now. I just started using Netflix again, last week, to watch House of Cards. And I've definitely noticed that video quality would constantly go up and down. Sometimes, it would even stop the video and take a moment to buffer.

And yet, I've been using Hulu Plus for the past two months without this sort of issue even coming up once.

*insert "Conspiracy Theory" gif here*

 

[FrothyOmen]

Try using a VPN and run speed tests with and without it active. www.hotspotshield.com

My upload numbers might be a tad wrong (lol) but it can definitely improve your experience and mitigate any throttling that may be affecting you. Your ping will suffer, but you're not using a VPN for gaming so it doesn't matter

No VPN: 19.92/2.2
VPN: 21.00/49.34 (lolwut?)

PS Comcast does throttle Hulu, odd that you haven't experienced it. No 4k ads and 240p shows??

Edit: Tested on speedtest.net a second time. Now I get 22.85 down, 35.09 up.

 

[Vagrant]

are YOU intentionally throttling Netflix, Chris?

 

[Rickyraws]

*insert "Conspiracy Theory" gif here*

 

[NB Semi Evil Ryu]

are YOU intentionally throttling Netflix, Chris?

IDidntDoItNobodySawMeDoItYouCantProveAnything

 

[RiBBz22]

LOL of course they are even though they will try to talk around it for a while. Same thing happened with Time Warner and twitch.tv. I have 50MB down connection and even when I would speedtest out at the full 50MB I would literally not be able to watch any stream after 5PM my time. Any time before that it would run flawless. TWC still had the nerve to say that they weren't throttling speeds at peak hours. Really annoying.

 

[FrothyOmen]

LOL of course they are even though they will try to talk around it for a while. Same thing happened with Time Warner and twitch.tv. I have 50MB down connection and even when I would speedtest out at the full 50MB I would literally not be able to watch any stream after 5PM my time. Any time before that it would run flawless. TWC still had the nerve to say that they weren't throttling speeds at peak hours. Really annoying.

VPN VPN VPN VPN VPN VPN

I have been able to watch Source quality twitch streams for the past few months flawlessly on my time warner connection that is less than half as fast as yours, at any time.

 

[RiBBz22]

VPN VPN VPN VPN VPN VPN

Yeah, so annoying that you have to go and pay for a freaking VPN to enjoy services that you are already paying for.

 

[NB Semi Evil Ryu]

I do all of my Netflix and Hulu on my Xbox One, so I'm assuming that I cannot VPN if I'm using a gaming console as a medium.

 

[BehindTheLight]

I'm guessing there is no such thing as a free high quality VPN right? If so, what is the next best option?

**edit** - Just saw the "hotspotshield" link. Gonna check that out.

 

[Tony at Home]

Since the net neutrality ruling everyone and their mum has been throttling Netflix...