Verizon says Netflix and YouTube Throttling was Just Testing

Verizon was recently caught by some of it’s users throttling Netflix and YouTube video streams. The throttling was discovered by a user on Reddit late last week who found when he tested his network speed on Fast.com (powered by Netflix) that his speeds were consistently capping at 10Mbps. When the same device and network were tested on the Ookla Speedtest app he found higher speeds. The same issue was then found by other Verizon customers who tried the same tests.

Verizon later stepped up and admitted that it was throttling Netflix and YouTube reports BGR. Verizon stated that the throttling of the two streaming services was a “network test” and that the test “should be completed shortly.” The big issue here is that Verizon has promised in the past that it won’t manipulate data in tests as it alleges T-Mobile does.

If Verizon doesn’t want to manipulate things, then why would it be testing a streaming cap on Netflix and YouTube in the first place? Many see the test as an indication that Verizon is planning to go back on its word when it comes to capping certain streaming services. The streaming speed limit that Verizon imposed is said to be plenty to handle 1080p streaming of video. Despite the fact that it would allow full HD streaming, BGR notes that the cap appears to be a violation of net neutrality rules requiring carriers like Verizon to treat all traffic equally.

To get around the smashing of net neutrality rules, Verizon would need to throttle all video streaming to the same levels and in this instance the only streaming services found to be throttled were Netflix and YouTube. The 10Mbps streaming cap could pose a problem in the future if people begin to stream 4K video on smartphones.