Netflix isn't shy about calling out internet service providers for their subpar speeds and now the video streaming service is posting bulletins to users directly blaming internet service providers.
Vox Media Designer Yuri Victor was one of the very first users to see one of these new messages when he tried to watch Netflix on his MacBook last night.
Eventually it seems the video tripped over some clogged bandwidth and Netflix prompted Victor with a message blaming Verizon for slow speed as it rebuilt the buffer.
He said, he said
Over Twitter, Netflix spokesman Jonathan Friedland explained the message is there to advise users when their network is congested and the message isn't specific to Verizon. Rather users can expect the message to appear whenever their video cuts out no matter who their broadband provider is.
Verizon isn't taking this one sitting back. The internet company fired back in a blog post, defaming the message as a "PR stunt"
"This claim is not only inaccurate, it is deliberately misleading," Verizon wrote. ""It is sad that Netflix is willing to deliberately mislead its customers so they can be used as pawns in business negotiations and regulatory proceedings."
Verizon continued explaining the issue is actually Netflix's fault and its message should actually read "the path that we have chosen to reach Verizon's network is crowded right now."
The blame game
This isn't the first time Netflix has called pock shots against ISPs over slow speeds. Every month the video streaming service publishes monthly ISP Speed Index, which evaluates the streaming speeds of all internet providers.
More recently Netflix has been increasingly fed up with the slow service ISPs provide. Despite signing deals with Comcast for 65% faster speeds - and a similar deal with Verizon – it still railed against the cable company and its upcoming merger with Time Warner Cable.
This time it seems Netflix is sending an even more direct response to Verizon, and ISP users in general, perhaps to coax its users over to its side by blaming providers for buffering problem.
Meanwhile, internet providers could have on their own agenda, claiming Netflix accounts for 30% of peak residential internet traffic. It's obvious ISPs want Netflix to pay up for hogging up their networks.
Expect to see even more quibbles between Netflix and the ISPs it depends on as the net neutrality fight wages on.
- Internet slow? Perhaps you should speed up your network
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