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Thread: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fail?)

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    Arena Senior Member Crazed Rabbit's Avatar
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    Default Re: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fai

    Well this moves me more towards support for some sort of regulation. Wish the article was more detailed.

    CR
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    Enlightened Despot Member Vladimir's Avatar
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    Default Re: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fai

    Quote Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit View Post
    Well this moves me more towards support for some sort of regulation. Wish the article was more detailed.

    CR
    Details just confuse things. If you want regulation you'll get on it now.


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    The very model of a modern Moderator Xiahou's Avatar
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    Default Re: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fai

    Quote Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit View Post
    Well this moves me more towards support for some sort of regulation. Wish the article was more detailed.

    CR
    End of the line ISPs like Comcast pay fees to Internet backbone providers like Level3 for carrying their traffic. Now, Comcast claims, Level3 is pushing more traffic onto Comcasts network than the other way around so Comcast wants to be able to charge Level3 a fee. That doesn't sound entirely unreasonable to me- but I'm interested in hearing more about it.
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    Enlightened Despot Member Vladimir's Avatar
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    Default Re: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fai

    Quote Originally Posted by Xiahou View Post
    End of the line ISPs like Comcast pay fees to Internet backbone providers like Level3 for carrying their traffic. Now, Comcast claims, Level3 is pushing more traffic onto Comcasts network than the other way around so Comcast wants to be able to charge Level3 a fee. That doesn't sound entirely unreasonable to me- but I'm interested in hearing more about it.
    See what I mean. If you want to regulate the intertubes you need to act now.


    Reinvent the British and you get a global finance center, edible food and better service. Reinvent the French and you may just get more Germans.
    Quote Originally Posted by Evil_Maniac From Mars
    How do you motivate your employees? Waterboarding, of course.
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  5. #5

    Default Re: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fai

    Quote Originally Posted by Xiahou View Post
    End of the line ISPs like Comcast pay fees to Internet backbone providers like Level3 for carrying their traffic. Now, Comcast claims, Level3 is pushing more traffic onto Comcasts network than the other way around so Comcast wants to be able to charge Level3 a fee. That doesn't sound entirely unreasonable to me- but I'm interested in hearing more about it.
    Sounds like Comcast has a problem with grown up talking to its suppliers. For Level3 traffic to use Comcast's hardware it implies that either Comcast idea of subnetting is so horribly broken that parts of Level 3 other clients fall under the same IP subnet in the Comcast network, (i.e. lazy staff forgot to make proper subnets); or it implies that Level3 is carrying so much traffic that Comcast's own routers advertise being cheaper nodes for such routes than the Level3 ones do. In the latter case Comcast is foolish if they seriously think they'll see long term money from it. To Level3, it is much cheaper to install additional hardware than let Comcast or other such ISPs cream their profits if this traffic is in any way significant.
    Last edited by Tellos Athenaios; 12-01-2010 at 19:58.
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    The very model of a modern Moderator Xiahou's Avatar
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    Default Re: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fai

    Quote Originally Posted by Tellos Athenaios View Post
    Sounds like Comcast has a problem with grown up talking to its suppliers. For Level3 traffic to use Comcast's hardware it implies that either Comcast idea of subnetting is so horribly broken that parts of Level 3 other clients fall under the same IP subnet in the Comcast network, (i.e. lazy staff forgot to make proper subnets); or it implies that Level3 is carrying so much traffic that Comcast's own routers advertise being cheaper nodes for such routes than the Level3 ones do. In the latter case Comcast is foolish if they seriously think they'll see long term money from it. To Level3, it is much cheaper to install additional hardware than let Comcast or other such ISPs cream their profits if this traffic is in any way significant.
    No, it's that Comcast provides connectivity to end users, while Level3 provides data from the Internet backbone itself. If you think of it like a highway, Level3 is the freeway while Comcast is the exit ramp. The two companies previously had a peerage agreement, but Comcast demanded it be renegotiated because the agreed upon traffic rations were no longer in effect. Seeing as how Level3 paid up, I'm guessing they didn't have a leg to stand on. It sounds like they're beating the "net neutrality" drum for PR, as they know it will play well.

    EDIT: The more you look into this, the worse Level3 looks. Here's an article with lots of background info from Cnet.
    Last edited by Xiahou; 12-02-2010 at 04:28.
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  7. #7

    Default Re: Comcast charges toll on competing online video provider Netflix. (Free market fai

    Ah Level 3 is doing more than just being a backbone provider with a CDN oriented service; effectively, it is a CDN.
    - Tellos Athenaios
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