Verizon Accused of Throttling Video Streaming, Slowing Down Netflix, YouTube
Verizon subscribers have noticed something off with their Verizon Wireless service. Speed tests on Fast.com, provided by Netflix, show that downloads are being capped at 10 Mbps, while Ookla's Speedtest app shows much higher speeds. Could this be due to Verizon throttling Netflix?
Users have since then posted similar findings in a thread started on Reddit, claiming that Verizon could be tinkering with the speeds that users on Verizon Wireless get whenever they use video streaming services like Netflix and YouTube.
Using the encryption provided by a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection, some subscribers claim they could bypass this 10 Mbps cap, as reported by user Markon101. "Tested my VPN with YouTube and suddenly the video loaded faster and quickly adjusted to 1440p resolution. Fast.com also get 20+Mbps where it only gets 10Mbps without the VPN," the poster wrote in a top-ranked comment.
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When asked about these findings, Verizon Wireless said that this is due to optimization testing. The testing, their statement claims, was done over the previous days in order to optimize video applications. "The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected," a Verizon representative said, as quoted by The Verge.
The 10 Mbps cap reported by some users, however, was mentioned by a subsequent statement from a Verizon spokesperson. Consumer video experience should be largely the same, the message claims, "since 1080p video is HD quality and looks great at 10 [Mpbs]."
Netflix is not the only affected service. Users in Howard Forums have also reported that YouTube apps appear to be throttled to 10 Mbps as well. While this may not be an issue of 1080p video, clips that have 1440p or higher resolution might start to suffer.
Verizon said that these "optimizations" are applied to their other services apart from Verizon Wireless. When asked if the Go90 and other Verizon offerings are also affected, the company replied that "It is across the board," as quoted by Ars Technica.
