A post by Jonathan Mayer [pictured], a computer scientist and lawyer at Stanford analyzes the recent HTTP header insertion by Verizon (apparently used for behavioral advertising):

"After poring over Verizon’s related patents and marketing materials, here’s my rough understanding of how the header works [see chart below] .. In short, Verizon is packaging and selling subscriber information,

Back in July Verizon announced that it will ".. expand its existing Network Optimization to include unlimited data customers who use 4G LTE devices .. when an unlimited data customer meets specific criteria and hops onto a cell site that is experiencing high demand. This is only a temporary reduction, not a billing cycle throttle. Once that customer leaves the cell site under stress, their

A new report by Marina Lu [pictured], research analyst, ABI Research finds that "In 1Q 2014, the worldwide mobile service revenue increased 0.58% year-on-year (YoY) to US$264 billion .. the aggregate service revenue for 2014 will grow 2.9% YoY to US$1.01 trillion, mainly driven by the robust growth of the mobile Internet market. 




Proliferating mobile data subscriptions and enhanced network

Alina Selyukh and Marina Lopes report to Reuters that "The top U.S. communications regulator on Friday said he is asking all large U.S. wireless carriers to explain how they decide when to slow download speeds for some customers, after questioning Verizon Wireless about such a plan"

This follows the letter sent earlier to Verizon (See "The FCC "Deeply Troubled" by Verizon's LTE Optimization" -

Few days after Verizon published its plan to optimize traffic at congested cells [see "Verizon Expands "Optimization" to LTE Subs to Fight Cell Congestion" - here], the FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler, sent them a number of questions, expressing he is  "deeply troubled" by the move, and questioning if this should the right policy for "reasonable netwrok management*" or it is actually done to  "enhance

3 years after Verizon established its optimization policy to reduce cell congestion, [see "Verizon Explains its "Network Optimization" Policy" - here] it is now expanded to LTE.

Kellex reports to DroidLife that "On October 1, Verizon will expand its existing Network Optimization policy to include unlimited data customers who use 4G LTE devices and “have fulfilled their minimum contract term.”

So, who is responsible for a smooth video experience ? The ISP? the content provider? the transit network between the two?

According to Verizon, it is not them (at least in the case of Netflix streaming).

David Young report to the carrier's Public policy Blog:




Netflix ISP Ranking for Verizon FiOS, Feb-Jun 2014

"A few weeks ago, Verizon received an email from a customer in Los Angeles

Verizon Digital Media Services announced that "Since its acquisition of EdgeCast Networks [see "Verizon Acquires EdgeCast; Will it Serve DT and TeliaSonera?" - here] .. Verizon Digital Media Services has rapidly expanded the capacity of the Verizon EdgeCast CDN, adding more than 20 new points of presence, or POPs, in major cities around the world since January. These cities include Warsaw,

Netflix published its ISP index for April (here) showing a significant improvement in Comcast speed. Since the two reached the peering agreement (end of February, here), the service to Comcast subscriber has improved by 83%! (blue line at the chart below).

The service to Verizon subscribers (DSL, Orange line and FIOS, Brown line) has also improved in April (see "In line with the New Net

After Netflix signed its first agreement with Comcast (see "Comcast and Netflix - BFF ("no preferential network treatment")" - here) ad reported "Netflix Reports Slower Speeds for Verizon" (here) it was reported that they are also in talks with AT&T and Verizon (See "Netflix: First we take Comcast, then we take AT&T and Verizon; How Much it Costs?" - here).

Sam Gustin reports to the TIME that "

The National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) published a document (here) compiling the comments made by a number of organization, operators, content providers and on FCC's new Open Internet docket (see "New Docket Established to Address Open Internet Remand" - here).

Here is what some of the 29 comments:

ADTRAN - In light of the lack of a demonstrated widespread problem and the observed

DDoS attacks are usually launched against businesses, and many ISPs have some level of detecting and mitigating attacks. It is rare to see a DDoS attack against consumers, and as we can see in the following story, even Verizon has rough times detecting the cause for the QoS degradation felt by the victim's neighbors, and chose a simple solution - cut the service to the victim!

Stop the Cap!

Sarah Reedy [pictured], Senior Editor, LightReading shows that despite the SDN/NFZ buzz, the great Capex saving are not yet there (at least for 2014).

"SDN and NFV have operators planning for lower capital expenditures, but that's not yet being reflected in their projections for 2014 .. AT&T [see "AT&T Expects SDN and NFV to Reduce Capex in 5 Years" - here], Verizon Wireless, Sprint and

Alcatel-Lucent announced that "Verizon Wireless is to deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced data management platform throughout its network, helping to support the carrier’s LTE expansion. The Alcatel-Lucent Subscriber Data Manager (SDM), part of the company’s IMS Subsystem portfolio of technologies designed to enable rich multimedia applications, will help support the expansion of Verizon’s LTE

Whether Verizon throttles Netflix' service or not (see "The Post-Net Neutrality Era - Does Verizon Shape Netflix and Amazon?" - here), recent ISP speed ranking by Netflix (see "Netflix - New Site Shows ISP Performance for US, UK, Scandinavia and more" - here) shows a clear degradation for Verizon's FIOS and DSL services since September-October 2013 to January 2014:





See also "Brazil, Chile

 
David Raphael reports in his blog about a chat he had with Verizon's support, in which the agent admittes that Verizon "is limiting bandwidth to cloud providers" which "exactly" explains why "netflix quality is bad now". 




"Frankly, I was surprised he admitted to this. I’ve since tested this almost every day for the last couple of weeks. During the day – the bandwidth is normal to AWS.

In the 2013 annual report to its shareholders (here), Netflix challenges the recent ruling on Net Neutrality (if nothing else works, "more regulation would clearly be requires").

Netflix believes that ISPs will not discriminate Netflix subscribers - and will actually work together with them on improving QoE (in order to go up in Netflix ISP chart? - see "Netflix CDN Customers have More Fun" -

A post by Andrew Burell [pictured], Nokia Solutions and Networks, to the company blog says that "OTT is certainly not a lost cause to MNOs".

" .. [MNOs] see OTT applications such as Skype, WhatsApp and NetFlix piggy-backing on their network investments, clogging up resources and stealing their revenues. The figures themselves are certainly frightening. Every day 2,371 new applications are

Reinhardt Krause reports to the INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY that "A U.S. District Court is likely to scale back the Federal Communications Commission's authority to impose broadband Net neutrality regulations on Internet service providers, says Stifel Nicolaus in a research report. A ruling could come soon, says analyst Christopher King". 



This opinion may be reinforced by the recent statement

  
Verizon announced a "definitive agreement under which the company will acquire EdgeCast, an industry leader in content delivery networks. Verizon Digital Media Services will integrate EdgeCast complementary capabilities to further improve and increase its ability to meet the exponential growth in online digital media content, as well as broaden its portfolio of site acceleration services for