Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
SteveVi
Enthusiast - Level 3

I agree with you--this is all a smoke and mirrors attempt by Verizon to set a precedent that turns the internet into a toll road where anyone moving anything but trivial amounts of traffic has to pay huge sums of money to Verizon.  No good can come of this and it will only perpetuate complex traffic agreements and an environment where providers can extort fees from others by choking their traffic all at the expense of the customer.  Oh, and imagine how much better it’s going to get as content providers begin rolling out 4K ultra high def streams in the future.

I'm not a proponent of government regulation but clearly these clowns can't play nicely and need some serious restrictions on what they can and can’t do.

Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
optivity
Contributor - Level 3

"The situation with Verizon & Netflix has reached the point of utter absurdity and has gone unanswered and unacknowledged for far too long."

This issue epitomizes what is wrong with the "United Oligarchy of America" these days.

All it takes is a panel of (3) judges appointed to the circuit court & (1) Mega Corporation to decide what information is / is not allowed to traverse the Internet in a useable way.

Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
bbinnard
Contributor - Level 3

My submission to the BBB:

Filed against : 
Verizon Communications
P.O. Box 9688 
Mission Hills CA 91346


Complaint Description:
Verizon FIOS service provides poor and/or unusable reception/viewing of Netflix content My contract for Verizon FIOS Internet service specifies a data rate which is far more than needed to receive Netflix content at full High Definition quality. However, during prime evening viewing hours Verizon degrades the overall speed of Netflix material to the point that it is unwatchable. This action by Verizon occurs across the USA and is well known and well documented on the Verizon FIOS forum. Verizon customers are looking for some way to get this problem resolved, either by allowing customers to cancel their current contracts at no penalty or by getting Verizon to stop degrading Netflix material.

Your Desired Resolution:
Verizon should either stop degrading Netflix transmissions or allow current customers to cancel their Verizon contract with no penalty.

This case will be reviewed by a complaint specialist at the Better Business Bureau, and then forwarded to the business for their response. It is our policy to allow the business 30 working days to respond to your complaint. You will be notified when the business has responded.

Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
SteveVi
Enthusiast - Level 3

I received a call from Verizon a couple of hours ago in response to my BBB claim reply.  The woman I spoke to was pleasant and professional and seemed to know more than she was willing to let on.  As I expected, the conversation started with questions about whether I only have this problem with Netflix of whether I'm seeing the same issues with other streaming sites.  I quickly pointed out that this is not a technical issue, explained that I have done lots of research and that the problem only happens during peak Netflix usage hours and never during off peak hours.  I also pointed out that I have friends and family in close proximity to where I live and the ones who are Verizon customers are having the same issues I am and those who are Comcast customers do not have such issue.

I told her I resented being used as a pawn in Verizon's negotiations with Cogent and Netlix and I she couldn't assure me that the problem was going to be resolved within 30 days, that I wanted to be released from my 24 month contract.  I also told her that I was only one of many, many Verizon customer who felt the same way and that Verizon stood to lose a large number of customers over this issue. 

The final outcome is that Verizon will waive my early termination fees if I cancel my contract.  No apologies, no "we're working on fixing the issue" no "we're sorry to be losing you as a long time customer",just another business as usual transaction.  The updated BBB claim entry is as follows:

Time to start looking into Comcast options. I also have only a couple of months left on my 4 line Verizon Wireless contract, which, with 4 smart phones, data plan, etc., is now close to $250 per month.  That's the next thing to go. 

Congratulations Verizon; you've had me as an internet and wireless customer for close to 15 years and in a matter of less than 2 months have **bleep** me off enough to lose me.

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Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
Namronorman
Contributor - Level 2

Bravo, good sir! I switched from VZW to T-Mobile two days ago and recently got out of my FiOS contract. I'm waiting to see what happens with COMCAST and TWC before I jump ship in regards to wireline. Until then, I am still a FiOS customer. VPNs help a lot with Verizon's terrible peering with half of the Tier 1s in the US.

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Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
geotv
Enthusiast - Level 3

This is exactly what I am going to do as well.  If the issue isnt fixed by the end of the week, they will be releasing me from my contract for failure to supply what they are charging me for.  Hi Comcast, Im sorry I ever left.  And Comcast is a horrible company!  Whats that say about Verizon?

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Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
ttutko1
Newbie

Surprised no one posted this yet but they completed a deal a couple days ago.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/28/netflix-reaches-another-isp-connection-deal-this-time-with-veri/?...

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Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
SteveVi
Enthusiast - Level 3

It was posted on one of the other Netflix threads in the FiOS forum.  While this is good news in the short term, it sets a horrible precident with far reaching implications regarding the future of the free internet as we currently know it. 

I can imagine all sorts of worse case scenarios where ISPs get to make decisions on which sites you can access based on thier own revenue extortion schemes. Whiile this first round of tolls revolves around video streaming, I wouldn't be surprized to see it happen for anything with potential for addtional ISP revenue; Too many ISP users using Google to search the net?  No problem, the ISP can cripple Google access and start backmailing them to pay if they want the ISP's customers to be able reach them reliably.

No good can come of this in the long term. 

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Netflix is slow on FIOS
meetkp
Newbie

For past 5-6 months I am getting very bad speed for any netflix video. When I had other cable internet, netflix used to work perfectly.

I have 50 MBPS plan and for netflix I am not getting even few 2-3 MBPS download. Even my friend leaving next to my place using other internet service is getting crips and clear netflix.

We all knows that verizon is trying to get cold money from netflix, and this leave very bad impression of verizon for customer like me who is paying 10 time what I am paying to netflix.

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Re: Netflix is slow lately on FIOS
lbarzin
Newbie
I have had unacceptable Netflix streaming since February 2014. Quality has dropped to 2 dots and rebuffering every few minutes. My speedtests all indicate plenty of download bandwidth (~24 and on-demand and Amazon work fine so I can only assume that Verizon is throttling down video streaming packets from Netflix specifically for some greedy business reason. I have called tech support and they were clueless, treating it like a server re-boot issue. So, I guess I'll just boycott Verizon on demand until this clears up - or I get a better deal fro one of their competitors.
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