Instant Watching Throttling???

Ok, so I've read about how Netflix has been accused or admits to "Throttling" it's more frequent users, but I want to throw this one into the fray and see what kind of a wild fire I start.
I use Instant Watching a lot! Like all the time at work! I just opened my browser and the netflix site runs it's little "Video Quality Test" and it says that it is "Basic" which means, you're on a slow network with a slow broadband connection, right? ok.
So I go to Speedtest.net and run a connection test to a site 150 miles away, and it says that I'm pulling down 12.6 Mb/ps I know pretty speedy!
So what's the deal with my poor video quality? It seems like once I watch a certain amount of hours per week, I start having quality issues or I start getting ridiculous load times like over 2 hours!
Anyone else experience this?
I LOVE the instant watching feature I just hope I'm not getting punished for using what I've subscribed to and have gone out and told all my friends about... That would be lame.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bruce on March 27, 2008 at 11:29am: It seems unlikely. After an initial roll-out that suggested suspicion, NF seems to have completely embraced WI. See the way they're encouraging you to watch movies in your queue that are available in WI. I think they view it as a great foot in the door for the post-DVD era. Some people might complain about bandwidth costs, but only people who've never compared it to postage. And remember it took them a number of years to begin throttling DVD's.

Finally, there are so many weak spots in the chain between your PC and Netflix. It seems much more likely the problem lay there.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Maubs on March 27, 2008 at 11:48am: Ever think it's your ISP that might be throttling you, once you use too much bandwith?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spindaddydad on March 27, 2008 at 11:58am: Ever think it's your ISP that might be throttling you, once you use too much bandwith?
Or even your place of work?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Slappy on March 28, 2008 at 6:33am: Or even your place of work?

They may want you to you know work...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Aaron on March 28, 2008 at 8:24pm: I am with Slappy, I watch alot of movies at work as well.. The reason for the slow down is the bandwidth you are using in downloading/steaming the movie. The speed test does not us alot of bandwidth so the work network does not slow you down. If you have a large amount of constant bandwidth useage the network/admin at your work most likely have preset limits to slow you down.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Real Uncle Bob on March 27, 2008 at 12:15pm: that speed test site will keep track of speeds between you and the server for about a minute, then report an average speed.

Netflix keeps track the same way, but if your minimum speed during the test is below a certain threshhold, you will not qualify for "good-quality" streaming.

You need to ask everybody else at work to stay off the net while you watch your cartoons.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Aaron on March 28, 2008 at 8:26pm: See this is why I am the only employee in the 22 story office building when I watch movies. So those darn people doing "work" can't eat up all my bandwidth!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Headcheese on March 28, 2008 at 8:29pm: Haha! That's funny!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jamey on March 29, 2008 at 11:20am: I don't have a problem. My instant watching from netflix always gets High, and streams great after the initial caching. Remember, that a speed test will give you a test of just that timeframe. Alot of connections are "Burstable", giving you short burts of very high speeds, only to throttle your connection back after so many seconds/minutes of the high speed. This is the case with alot of cable modem providers (used to work at one). Also, while your speedtest may be 150 miles away, your netflix may be more. Different routes to different destinations.

Think of it as a city. Sometimes you can get on the expressway and get there quicker, while other times the expressway is backed up and slow, so taking a different route, though slower than the faster days on the expressway, could still be faster for today's commute.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by aamith on April 2, 2008 at 8:34pm: I have to agree that something odd is going on with instant watching. I'm on a 50mbs fiber optic connection in my home, i've never seen my video quality rating say anything but "high" until a few days ago when it dropped to basic. my connection is still running full speed when i test it and all other sites work fine. now, i do use the instant watch a lot, i watch something on it everyday, so either my isp is throttling me down or NF is. i just can't find a way to determine which one.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Xero Kewl on April 3, 2008 at 10:12pm: Not to be slightly off-topic with my reply, but I bet if NF is behind the mess, it's due to people wanting to get the most out of their memberships due to their own throttling methods, therefore, more people on IW. It's a sad cycle they have produced for themselves and they never seem to learn their lesson even when sued. I'll tolerate NF until I start having IW issues, then I am truly done. On to another provider I suppose if that happens to me...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by dogmania on April 3, 2008 at 5:58am: Jeremiah,
For one thang dude,,,I want your JOB!!! I have the same problem...I really think it's your ISP,ok so,where do I apply now?; ▶ Reply to This