Netflix will end shaming campaign against Verizon over network speeds

Netflix will end the shaming campaign against Verizon on June 16, after a cease and desist letter from Verizon to Netflix called them out on the shaming, stating it was Netflix who is responsible for the slow speeds on its service and not the ISP.

Internet service providers have been the hot topic for news organisations, after the FCC tried to introduce fast lanes into the United States. Comcast and Time Warner Cable have taken the brunt of the Internet hate, but Verizon and AT&T have a part to play in poor broadband performance.

Netflix decided to start a campaign to tell users when their network was congested, starting with Verizon and AT&T. This shaming campaign would give alerts to the user when the ISP was congesting the network and would change the quality of the stream to reflect the congestion.

This did not bode well for Verizon, who apparently have one of the most congested and slow broadband networks in the United States. Verizon did not like Netflix trying to pin the blame on the ISP and stated “Verizon demands that Netflix immediately cease and desist from providing any such further ‘notices’ to users of the Verizon network.”

We are not sure if it was the cease and desist or Netflix’s apparent move to “evaluate rolling it out more broadly,” offering more insight as to what your ISP is offering and if it is making sure the network is not congested. Comcast and Time Warner Cable could be next, although these are tougher fish to fry.

Netflix needs a good amount of network bandwidth to reach the user with excellent service, to do this they have had to pay US ISPs for higher-end service. This is against net neutrality that states no service should be discriminated regardless of how much bandwidth they take up for their Website or service.

This is an ongoing battle in the United States and we still don’t know who will win, the tech services or the ISPs. In other parts of the World, Netflix runs fine and ISPs don’t complain to the government, but the US seems to have fallen into a bad spot when it comes to broadband.