I started looking at my current data speed because I’m considering switching to a Verizon MVNO, and there seems to be considerable uncertainty over whether MVNOs are throttled.
Anyway, I get the following download speeds via the Verizon cell network:
65 Mbps via Ookla app
55 Mbps via web browser Xfinity speed test 4 Mpbs via web browser fast.com = Netflix
If I turn on WiFi, I get roughly equal speeds.
So it looks like the Verizon cell network is specifically throttling Netflix.
Not that this is of any practical concern to me personally, since I don’t watch Netflix over the cell network. But has this always been the case? Are other people seeing the same thing?
I we still had net neutrality, this would be a violation, right? Or did net neutrality not apply to data via cell networks?
Yes. All of the cell phone service providers shape streaming video traffic to force the quality down to the 480p-720p range. Verizon targets 720p bandwidth.
So how did net neutrality look as it applied to cellphone data? Were carriers always allowed to throttle video traffic, provided they treated all video providers equally?
That was the general idea, it never really had a chance to be challenged/fleshed out.
With regards to MVNOs, usually the biggest problem there is deprioritization. If the network’s not congested, you’re more likely to be OK, if there is congestion, your packets are much more likely to be dropped rather than a Verizon-proper user, slowing you down before him.
They don’t explain their “consistent quality” metric very well, but presumably that’s related to deprioritization when traffic through a tower is heavy. Since I live in Santa Fe and rarely travel to big cities these days, it may not affect me much. And on data speed - Verizon is so fast that even if my data speed halves, I won’t notice.
So I think it’s worth giving Xfinity Mobile a try. My monthly cost would drop from $65 to $15.
Thank *you. *All I can say is that it worked when I first tried it but that was originally based on a couple re-directs from an older article I had read on Cracked.
I just switched from Verizon Post-Pay to Xfinity Mobile. My cost has dropped from $65 per month to $15, still on the Verizon network. Seamless transition, it took 20 minutes at the store, instant porting of number. A first speed test is giving me a higher speed from the same location at home (>100 Mbps), but it’s a little later in the evening. I’ll try it again at the exact same time I tested before switching.
I think this is going to be a good choice, I rarely visit big cities these days, so I doubt that deprioritization is going to affect me much.