Verizon defends temporary internet speed reduction at Netflix and YouTube

The American provider Verizon has announced that lowering the internet speed when watching videos via, for example, Netflix and YouTube, is allowed according to the current old net neutrality rules.

A week ago, the data rate at which Verizon Wireless mobile customers could watch Netflix videos was found to be limited. Several users reported that they could not achieve speeds higher than 10 Mbit/s. Netflix said in a response to The Verge that the video platform had nothing to do with the throttling of the data rate.

A day later, Verizon admitted that the provider had rolled out a new system for optimizing videos, and that the speed reduction was part of a temporary test that didn’t affect the quality of the videos. According to a Verizon spokesperson, videos in 1080p at a speed of 10Mbit/s would look fine. Some YouTube users reported that there was a reduction in quality.

Verizon has since said that current net neutrality rules leave room for “reasonable network management” so that providers can ensure that the networks run efficiently. According to the provider, video optimization is a non-discriminatory practice and is only intended to provide customers with a high-quality connection.

The Federal Communications Commission took the first step in May to abolish strict US net neutrality rules. A vote has been taken to abolish the old rules from the time when Obama was still in office. There is still time to respond to these new plans, which will give providers much more room to prioritize or not prioritize certain parts of internet traffic.

A committee of the US House of Representatives has called on the CEOs of Google, Facebook and provider AT&T, among others, to testify before the committee, so that they can give their opinion on the new plans.