Google Fiber: You Know How Comcast Is Making Netflix Pay Extra? We Don't Do That Kind Of Crap

from the good-for-them dept

The folks behind Google Fiber have fired a not-so-subtle shot at Comcast and Verizon for their recent efforts to make companies like Netflix pay extra. As we've noted, the big last mile access broadband access providers have realized that they can effectively get companies to pay twice by clogging certain points in the network. Even more nefarious, they're able to do this without violating a narrow view of "net neutrality" because net neutrality is focused on the last mile, rather than interconnection and peering. It's a really scammy process, which is part of those big broadband providers' attempts to extract monopoly rents out of their control over the last mile.

Google Fiber has stayed out of this debate for a while, but just fired a clear shot in the fight, with a blog post that never mentions Comcast, but more or less screams: You know that bullshit that Comcast and Verizon are pulling? We don't do that. Instead, they note two important things: (1) contrary to the claims of Comcast, online video traffic is in no way overwhelming the network, and (2) it's easy to help upgrade the setup for Netflix and others for free:

We have also worked with services like Netflix so that they can ‘colocate’ their equipment in our Fiber facilities. What does that mean for you? Usually, when you go to Netflix and click on the video that you want to watch, your request needs to travel to and from the closest Netflix data center, which might be a roundtrip of hundreds or thousands of miles. Instead, Netflix has placed their own servers within our facilities (in the same place where we keep our own video-on-demand content). Because the servers are closer to where you live, your content will get to you faster and should be a higher quality.

We give companies like Netflix and Akamai free access to space and power in our facilities and they provide their own content servers. We don’t make money from peering or colocation; since people usually only stream one video at a time, video traffic doesn’t bog down or change the way we manage our network in any meaningful way — so why not help enable it?

But we also don’t charge because it’s really a win-win-win situation. It’s good for content providers because they can deliver really high-quality streaming video to their customers. For example, because Netflix colocated their servers along our network, their customers can access full 1080p HD and, for those who own a 4K TV, Netflix in Ultra HD 4K. It’s good for us because it saves us money (it’s easier to transport video traffic from a local server than it is to transport it thousands of miles). But most importantly, we do this because it gives Fiber users the fastest, most direct route to their content. That way, you can access your favorite shows faster. All-in-all, these arrangements help you experience the best access to content on the Internet — which is the whole point of getting Fiber to begin with!

So, what's Comcast and Verizon's excuse?

Filed Under: buffering, google fiber, interconnection, peering, streaming
Companies: comcast, google, netflix, verizon