mhammett

Netflix was using traditional CDN services through Akamai, Level 3, LimeLight and others. A couple years ago they decided they could do it better themselves. They purchased capacity from multiple companies including Level3 and Cogent. The CDNs already had the agreements to be inside the networks of Comcast, AT&T, etc. for carrying heavily weighted traffic. Cogent and Level3's contracts were assuming that Comcast was a peer or that Comcast was buying services from the above networks. When their pipes filled up, Comcast elected to not upgrade them. This drove the quality of Cogent and Level3's customers (including NetFlix) into the toilet. The solution that made the most sense was for Comcast and NetFlix to come to a direct arrangement... which is what happened. If anything, NetFlix tried to strong-arm them.

What about the impacts of such regulations on independent ISPs and small businesses, the ones that you should be championing to solve the issues you perceive? The real problem is lack of access competition, but little is done to put the little guys in the spotlight so they can solve the problems. Wouldn't advancing real competition be better than increasing regulations on those small guys?

Were you expecting something other than a bunch of "When are you going to serve X" posts?

It also called for a triennial review, but they haven't done that lately.

The telcos have been trying to get forbearance for a long time. What can we do to put a nail in that coffin?