Re: Some truth about Comcast - WikiLeaks style

[Nathan Angelacos <nangel () tetrasec net>]

On 12/15/10 14:13, Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:51:05 EST, Mikel Waxler said:
>
> > The reality is that most customers do not make uncapped connections. File
> > servers cap bandwidth per user and certain services, like gaming or
> > streaming media have a maximum rate. As long as the average data rate
> > allocated per customer is close to the usage then customers will not notice
> > the difference. Does it matter if it takes 10 seconds or 15 seconds to
> > download a 5 minute youtube clip?
>
> The problem starts when that the choke point is congested enough that the
> question isn't "10 seconds or 15", it's "4 mins 30 or 5 mins 30 for that 5
> minute clip". Buffer underruns are incredibly annoying.
Or, from personal experience:

The movie stops because the buffer was exhausted, Netflix informs you 
"Your network connection has changed", shows a progress bar while it 
buffers /at a lower bitrate/.

Then you get to watch the rest of the movie like it was 1995.