Netflix Enforces #of Concurrent Viewing Sessions Restrictions

   

Phillip Dampier (pictured) reports to "Stop the Cap!" ("Promoting Better Broadband, Fighting Data Caps, Usage-Based Billing, & Other Internet Overcharging Schemes") hart "Netflix streaming customers who happen to share their account with other family members are having a frustrated Labor Day weekend as Netflix completes implementation of strict new limits on the number of concurrent video streams available for viewing". 

Officially, Netflix allows concurrent streaming on the same account based on the number of "X disc out at-a-time" and only one session for "stream-only plan". However ".. many of our readers have told us they have never had problems running two or even three concurrent streams at the same time on a “stream-only” plan… until recently".

Customer options are:

1. Pay considerably more for a combo disc-rental/streaming plan which unlocks a corresponding number of concurrent streams.  If you want two concurrent video streams, you will need to pay $19.98 a month, which also allows you two mailed DVD’s out at a time.  Three streams (and DVD’s) runs $23.98, four: $29.98;
2. Sign up for a second Unlimited Streaming account at an additional $7.99 a month

 
See "Netflix Cracks Down on Sharing: One Stream Per Customer Unless You Pay More" - here.

EU: "It's not OK for Skype and other such services to be throttled"

  

The EU is taking Net Neutrlity "very seriously" as stated by Neelie Kroes (picture), European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda.
 

Ms. Kroes presented the EU report on Net Neutrality ("The open internet and net neutrality in Europe" - here) in a press conference held in Brussels on April 19. She started by stating:
 

".. This is a timely report because it comes just one month before the new EU telecoms rules are due to come into force in all Member States on 25 May [see below]. As you know, I am a firm believer in the power of competition to promote consumer interests. That means I see a clear role for using these pro-competitive new rules to ensure an open and neutral internet"

And then - directly to the heart of the issue. Few quotes:

• For example, I am informed that some internet providers practise so-called "throttling", where they slow down certain types of traffic, such as video streaming provided by a competitor, in order to degrade the quality of content. Some mobile internet operators block voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services
   
• One UK operator is said to make Skype calls technically impossible in afternoons and evenings without warning users. Others scare users from using the service or ban it altogether
   
• Today's report shows a general consensus that traffic management can be useful. For example, it is important to keep video calls running smoothly even if that means an email is delayed by a few seconds
   
• The Commission will spend 2011 closely looking at current market practices

See "Neelie Kroes European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda The internet belongs to all of us Press conference on Net Neutrality Communication Brussels, 19th April 2011" - here.

Regarding the rules mentioned above [here]:

"There is no set definition of 'net neutrality' but it will be a legal requirement under EU law as from 25 May 2011 that Member States' telecoms regulatory authorities promote the ability of internet users "to access and distribute information or run applications and services of their choice" (Article 8(§4)g of the telecoms Framework Directive 2002/21/EC, as amended by Directive 2009/140/EC). Other rules directly relevant to net neutrality that enter into force on 25 May as part of new EU telecoms rules include requirements concerning:

• transparency (e.g. any restrictions limiting access to services or applications, connection speeds)
• quality of service (regulators can set minimum quality levels) and
• the ability to switch operator (within one working day).

See also "EU "Open Internet" Public Consultation - Neutrality Needed - but Works Fine Today, without Regulation" - here.

Bytemobile Forecasts Video to be more than 60% of Total Mobile Traffic in 2011

  

Bytemobile data "shows that video became the dominant form of mobile data traffic in 2010 – accounting for more than 40 percent of the total volume in wireless networks worldwide. With the rise of full-length and studio-quality videos and live streaming of multimedia content on mobile devices – as well as the emergence of two-way video communications – Bytemobile expects mobile data traffic to spike to an all-time high in 2011".

See "Bytemobile Forecasts Video to Account for More than 60% of Total Mobile Network Traffic in 2011 – Strain on Capacity to Continue with LTE Roll-Outs" - here.

"Video-based content will account for over 60% of network traffic, up from approximately 40% in 2010 .. Personal video communications will dominate wireless network capacity, such that 10% of subscribers consume 90% of total network traffic .. Operators will add “Smart Capacity” solutions to both the data centers and the packet core of their networks to better utilize capacity for rising traffic demand. These solutions combine caching, content filtering, policy enforcement, access control, and capacity control points to create smarter networks for managing existing capacity".

Allot said last September that "video streaming applications continue to dominate the global mobile bandwidth scene and remain the largest consumer of bandwidth with a 35% share" (See "Allot: Mobile Traffic Grew by 68%, Video Streaming by 92%" - here).

[In-Stat]: "Growth of broadband caused by the desire to access the Internet with a high-speed"

 
The title should surprise anyone, I guess.

Vahid Dejwakh, Industry Analyst for In-Stat, finds in a recent research that "Global broadband subscribers continue to grow fast, with mobile wireless growth, in particular, exceeding expectations. The primary market driver responsible for the growth of broadband subscribers continues to be the desire to access the Internet with a high-speed connection.  The growing popularity of bandwidth-intensive applications, such as watching online video, using IP-based telephony services, and downloading music files, is directly spurring demand for higher-speed Internet connections pushing the number of global subscribers to 763 million in 2010."

See "The Need for Speed Pushes Broadband Subscribers to 763 Million in 2010" - here.

“From 2007 through 2009, there was a continued growth rate of 25% in broadband subscribers worldwide .. Though this is expected to slowly decrease to 10% by 2014 as the broadband market matures, there are still some substantial gains to be made. The Asia/Pacific region will continue to see very high growth rates, along with Latin America and the Middle East/Africa regions”

Comapre to: "Analysys Mason: 720M Fixed Connections by 2015 - [only] 62% of all Broadband Connections" - here

The DPI Story – Part III – The Business Case for Bandwidth Management

In my previous post I described how broadband bandwidth management solutions started, and how DPI became their core technology, mainly due to the extensive use of P2P file sharing applications by millions of broadband subscribers.

The main reason for ISPs and carriers to use bandwidth management was, and still is, to maximize the return on their infrastructure investments. While it is very clear that limiting the use of bandwidth hungry applications delays the need to invest in expanding the network infrastructure, there are additional business reasons to use bandwidth management, leading to the sophisticated solutions offered and used today.

• Accommodate more subscribers on a given infrastructure – especially in some environments where bandwidth resources are physically limited (like wireless/cellular networks)
• Increase subscribers' loyalty, by better meeting their QoE expectations. Bandwidth management may help with that by prioritizing applications that are sensitive to network delays – VoIP, video streaming (avoiding the “buffering” phenomena) or even web browsing
• Reduce help-desk costs, resulting from the increased subscribers' satisfaction
• Prioritize certain services and applications that generate additional revenues to the provider – such as a VoIP or Video conferencing service paid by the minute or content distribution agreements. In other words, the business idea here is to increase the ARPU (Average Revenue per User)
• De-prioritize other applications, competing with the provider's own services. In many cases, this relates to OTT (Over The Top) applications.

As can be seen by this list, some of the benefits of bandwidth management are very reasonable and actually overcome some flaws in the design of the TCP/IP architecture. It does make sense that real-time applications will have priority over file transfers. However, as we go down the list we can see that carriers may use bandwidth management to discriminate competitive services. The debate around these issues is known (as least in the US) as Network Neutrality – and deserves its own post.

To generalize the above, we can see that bandwidth management control can operate in a number of planes (or dimensions):

Plane	Use	Business Case
Application	Reduce the use of bandwidth hungry applications (reduce congestion)	Delay infrastructure investment
	Prioritize sensitive application (control QoE)	Increase subscriber loyalty
Service (i.e. the provider of the application)	Prioritize “preferred” services, such as the provider’s VoIP service	Increase ARPU
	De-prioritize competitive services	Increase ARPU
Subscriber	Offer personal service plans (tiered services), such as “platinum” or “gamer” service	Increase ARPU

Bandwidth management solution will also allow combining the above planes.