Let it go? Heck no--Verizon says congestion caused by Netflix transit providers

The corporate blog-based finger-pointing between Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) has continued, with Verizon launching a new screed accusing Netflix's own transit providers of causing sluggish streaming video performance over the Verizon network.

"A few weeks ago, Verizon received an email from a customer in Los Angeles asking why he was not getting a good experience watching Netflix on his 75 Mbps FiOS connection," writes David Young, VP of federal regulatory affairs for Verizon. "He was understandably confused by some of the misleading public accounts that inaccurately suggest widespread congestion that could affect Netflix traffic on Verizon's network. Worse still were claims that Verizon is deliberately 'throttling' Netflix traffic. This customer wanted to know what was going on and why his performance wasn't what he hoped. We, too, wanted to get to the bottom of the problem."

So what did Verizon's investigation find?

"There was no congestion anywhere within the Verizon network," Young explained. "There was, however, congestion at the interconnection link to the edge of our network (the border router) used by the transit providers chosen by Netflix to deliver video traffic to Verizon's network.

"While the links chosen by Netflix were congested (congestion occurs when use approaches or reaches 100% capacity during peak usage periods), the links from other transit providers (carrying non-Netflix traffic) to Verizon's network did not experience congestion and were performing fine," he added.

The kerfuffle started in early June, when Netflix sent on-screen messages to customers experiencing buffering issues, suggesting their performance problem might be tied to their ISP (i.e. Verizon). The two companies have regularly been tweaking each other over network streaming performance since that time.

The backdrop, of course, is the ongoing policy debate over paid peering agreements, an arrangement Netflix has reluctantly agreed to with Verizon. Further compounding the specific relationship between Verizon and Netflix--the execution of their interconnection arrangement is far from completed.

For more:
- read this Verizon corporate blog
- read this DSL Reports story
- read this Multichannel News story

Related links:
Report: Verizon, Netflix are behind on setting up interconnection infrastructure
Verizon ramps up Netflix tiff with cease and desist letter
Responding to Netflix PR stunts 101: Don't get into a fight you can't win