OpEd from InfoWorld on Two Timing Netflix
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@JaredBusch said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Of course they want to be better compensated but we are talking about extortion, not fair pricing. Netflix pays the same access rates as everyone else. The carriers want to block Netflix to open the way for them to provide that same service themselves. This is about unfair blocking of competition.
You are mixing up the various pieces of this discussion.
Peering has NOTHING directly to do with ANY end user. Peering by definition is a free swap of data between two networks. Note the word networks. Not end users. An agreement between a network (TWC) and another network (Cogent (Netflix leased)) to peer or swap data is generally only agreed upon when the data over time is expected to be somewhat balanced. These networks are generally referred to as CDN (Content Delivery Networks). Netflix and other high bandwidth services are severely over balancing the the scales of data flow.
Now that peering is out of the way, let's talk about end users. I pay Charter $45 a month for a 30/5 connection to Charter's network. Charter then has to pay to connect their network to other networks or Charter has to reach a peering agreement with each of the other networks. Netflix as an end user pays for their connection to the internet to some provider who then also has to pay to connect to the other networks or reach peering agreements with them.
Netflix is also a network by virtue of their leasing Cogent facilities. They are a network that is basically ONLY sending data out. The data they are receiving is so tiny as to not matter. This comes no where close to a balanced flow of data that all the peering agreements that the internet was built on. If Netflix was not also a network I would have more feelings for them. They chose to become a network, they are no longer an end user.Netflix is not a network. They are still end users, at least most places. They are on Amazin cloud and are distributed all over just like other end users.
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@Dashrender said:
@JaredBusch said:
@Dashrender said:
Can you break this down for me? How does Netflix leasing Cogent facilities make them a network, and why does this matter?
When you lease a network, you ARE a network. Otherwise you would not be leasing the network you would be paying to use it as an end user.
So if I decided to lease space in the Cox DC I'm now somehow part of the 'network' of the internet and would be subject to the same peering issues as the ISP themselves? How does that make sense? I'm still my own company, I just want closer connection to the first hop to the backbone.
Being in a DC does not make you a network. That makes you a customer just like anything else.
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@Dashrender Here is a well written article. The info graphic in the middle is useful.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/01/understanding-netflix-comcast-and-the-magic-of-mod.aspx -
@Dashrender said:
@JaredBusch said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Of course they want to be better compensated but we are talking about extortion, not fair pricing. Netflix pays the same access rates as everyone else. The carriers want to block Netflix to open the way for them to provide that same service themselves. This is about unfair blocking of competition.
You are mixing up the various pieces of this discussion.
Peering has NOTHING directly to do with ANY end user. Peering by definition is a free swap of data between two networks. Note the word networks. Not end users. An agreement between a network (TWC) and another network (Cogent (Netflix leased)) to peer or swap data is generally only agreed upon when the data over time is expected to be somewhat balanced. These networks are generally referred to as CDN (Content Delivery Networks). Netflix and other high bandwidth services are severely over balancing the the scales of data flow.This is what I was talking about - and what I'm hoping that Scott has a link to that somehow shows that Netflix is paying Cogent for Netflix's over use of the peering connections to other networks.
You are putting words in my mouth. I said they paid for bandwidth. I don't agree in the concept of abusing the peer.
How do you define abusing a service you buy? Netflix pays for their bandwidth. If the didn't Amazon and cogent would kick them out. The bandwidth is paid for. Saying that they abuse it seems ridiculous to me. Don't sell something if you won't allow someone to use it. You don't call it abusing a hamburger when you sell it and someone eats it. That's its purpose.
When you buy bandwidth people should expect you to use it. If they aren't happy with that they should not have sold it to you.
No different than how any home user abuses their peering by watching Netflix. The traffic is nearly all one direction. No one would ever call the obvious use case "abuse".
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@scottalanmiller All of the above aside, what Comcast is trying to do is harmful as it IS trying to make sure their stuff wins unless you pay them. But the entire picture is most certainly not as simple and black and white as you are trying to depict things.
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@Dashrender said:
@JaredBusch said:
Netflix is also a network by virtue of their leasing Cogent facilities. They are a network that is basically ONLY sending data out. The data they are receiving is so tiny as to not matter. This comes no where close to a balanced flow of data that all the peering agreements that the internet was built on. If Netflix was not also a network I would have more feelings for them. They chose to become a network, they are no longer an end user.
Can you break this down for me? How does Netflix leasing Cogent facilities make them a network, and why does this matter?
I'm confused on that too since that would make NTG a network or me at home a network. Which obviously they are, everything past a router is a new network. So it seems that the peering extortion could, again, be applied to home users the same as Netflix.
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@scottalanmiller said:
How do you define abusing a service you buy? Netflix pays for their bandwidth. If the didn't Amazon and cogent would kick them out. The bandwidth is paid for. Saying that they abuse it seems ridiculous to me. Don't sell something if you won't allow someone to use it. You don't call it abusing a hamburger when you sell it and someone eats it. That's its purpose.
A peer is NOT purchased by definition.
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@Dashrender said:
Back to the matter at hand - why is Netflix even involved in these talks? The carriers should be going after Cogent since that is Verizon's, etc, peering partner, not Netflix!
Exactly.
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@JaredBusch said:
@Dashrender said:
Can you break this down for me? How does Netflix leasing Cogent facilities make them a network, and why does this matter?
When you lease a network, you ARE a network. Otherwise you would not be leasing the network you would be paying to use it as an end user.
How is that different than my house. I lease that subnet from Optimum.
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@Dashrender said:
@JaredBusch said:
@Dashrender said:
Can you break this down for me? How does Netflix leasing Cogent facilities make them a network, and why does this matter?
When you lease a network, you ARE a network. Otherwise you would not be leasing the network you would be paying to use it as an end user.
So if I decided to lease space in the Cox DC I'm now somehow part of the 'network' of the internet and would be subject to the same peering issues as the ISP themselves? How does that make sense? I'm still my own company, I just want closer connection to the first hop to the backbone.
As a company that does this. I'm confused. We are end users like everyone else.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I'm confused on that too since that would make NTG a network or me at home a network. Which obviously they are, everything past a router is a new network. So it seems that the peering extortion could, again, be applied to home users the same as Netflix.
In a way you are. And you could choose to attempt to set up a peering agreement if you could find anyone to accept it. No one would because you have no capacity to reciprocate the data traffic to another network.
Do not play semantics, the workd network can mean more than one thing. Yes it is a network of computers. But how that network functions is very different at the different levels.
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@scottalanmiller said:
When you buy bandwidth people should expect you to use it. If they aren't happy with that they should not have sold it to you.
No different than how any home user abuses their peering by watching Netflix. The traffic is nearly all one direction. No one would ever call the obvious use case "abuse".
Something purchased is NOT peering. It is a paid service.
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Sounds like Scott and I are on the same page.
I want to know why Netflix is relenting and paying these other providers? Why isn't Netflix telling them to go to hell, and if they have a problem to go see Cogent - that's who they have a real problem with.
Speaking of 'I buy my 30/5 connection from my ISP, and they want to double charge me' Cox several years ago instituted a cap on their supposedly unlimited internet connection. The downfall is already happening. I have friends that get occasional letters from Cox stating that they went over their data limit the previous month and if it becomes a habit they will have their account closed. Of course these friends are using a very large amount of Netflix watching (all members of the house probably stream several hours of Netflix a day).
Damn I want real competition in the ISP space!
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@JaredBusch said:
@scottalanmiller said:
When you buy bandwidth people should expect you to use it. If they aren't happy with that they should not have sold it to you.
No different than how any home user abuses their peering by watching Netflix. The traffic is nearly all one direction. No one would ever call the obvious use case "abuse".
Something purchased is NOT peering. It is a paid service.
You're absolutely right. Netflix is purchasing the paid service to pump Xetabytes of data onto the internet to Cogent... it's Cogent's problem if there is a peering problem caused by Cogent's sale of such a large pipe to Netflix.
If Cogent needs to reevaluate their peering deal with other providers, so be it.. if that means that they suddenly have to incur more costs to connect to those other providers - I'm currently OK with that too. If that means that Cogent needs to pass those costs along to Netflix because they (Netflix) are the reason that Cogent has to pay the other peers - Fine... that's they way it SHOULD work.. not Netflix paying it directly to whatever extortion the other ISPs want to charge or else block the traffic.
Of course... if someone on Verizon's network put a sharing website that started making the peering more equal or unbalanced in a different way, then the agreement between Cogent and the other peers should be readjusted, etc.
