On Apr 26, 2014, at 11:23 PM, Rick Astley <jnanog@gmail.com> wrote:
How is this *not* Comcast's problem? If my users are requesting more traffic than I banked on, how is it not my responsibility to ensure I have capacity to handle that? I have gear; you have gear. I upgrade or add ports on my side; you upgrade or add ports on your side. Am I missing something?
Sort of yes, it's Comcasts problem to upgrade subscriber lines but if that point of congestion is the links between Netflix and Comcast then Netflix would be on the hook to ensure they have enough capacity to Comcast to get the data at least gets TO the Comcast network. The argument at hand is if Comcast permitted to charge them for the links to get to their network or should they be free/settlement free. I think it should be OK to charge for those links as long as its a fair market rate and the price doesn't basically amount to extortion. Sadly the numbers are not public so I couldn't tell you one way or the other aside from I disagree with the position Netflix seems to be taking that they simply must be free. Once that traffic is given directly to comcast no other party receives payment for delivering it so there is no double billing.
Beyond that, there’s a more subtle argument also going on about whether $EYEBALL_PROVIDER can provide favorable network access to $CONTENT_A and less favorable network access to $CONTENT_B as a method for encouraging subscribers to select $CONTENT_A over $CONTENT_B by affecting the relative performance. This becomes much stickier when you face the reality that in many places, $EYEBALL_PROVIDER has an effective monopoly as the only player choosing to offer services at a useful level of bandwidth/etc. (If that). Owen