Netflix Now Biggest Source Of Internet Traffic In North America

Netflix is now the biggest source of Internet traffic in North America, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all broadband traffic during peak hours, according to a new report from Sandvine, an analytics company.

Sandvine concludes Netflix is now the "unquestioned king of North America's fixed access networks," noting that, even when averaged over a 24-hour period and when both upstream and downstream traffic are accounted for, Netflix tops charts as the largest source of web traffic, making up 22.2% of traffic, ahead of BitTorrent's 21.6%,

Netflix's share of Internet traffic is likely to fuel the controversy between the online video firm and Internet service providers, who have argued that TV shows and movies streamed from Netflix add an unsustainable burden to their networks. Companies are increasingly shifting to and considering tiered pricing models. AT&T, for example, is imposing broadband caps and will charge DSL users extra for exceeding 150GB per month.

"The data will surely stoke the debate on usage-based pricing for Internet consumption, which companies like Netflix--with 23 million users-- warn could curb consumer appetites for watching streaming video online," writes the Washington Post.

The report also finds that subscribers in North America are using more and more data: median monthly usage nearly doubled in six months from 4GB to 7GB, while mean consumption increased from 15GB to 23GB in the same period, Sandvine found.

It also noted that despite the growth of "real-time entertainment" services like Netflix, P2P filesharing has maintained a consistent share of web traffic and predicts that these sites are "here to stay."

Read the full report here.

Comments

[womenforaction]

08:55 PM on 05/18/2011

I enjoy my Netflix. But it's a matter of time before prices increase because of the increase in consumer demand. They will eventually have to increase prices at some point. Consumers are already demanding more with their s service; i. e. more selections, more genres, access to live streaming possibly.

[ClassicLeft]

05:51 PM on 05/18/2011

Netflix has been down for several hours now... they broke the internet :-/

[mbrinkm]

05:18 PM on 05/18/2011

Maybe ISP companies should strive to increase the broadband capabilities in the US instead of complaining.

I don't expect them to get us to Korea levels anytime soon (it's a lot more difficult to do since the US is so much larger and more spread out), but there is little excuse for how terrible broadband in the US is.

[Edna Crabapple]

08:08 PM on 05/18/2011

Since most ISP's are also media content delivery companies, they see Netflix as a threat to their hideously overpriced VOD.
They should be forced to divest, and give consumers the fast unlimited dumb internet pipe most people are asking for. I had hope that I would see FIOS, but it won't happen now. Verizon has stopped deployment of FIOS in favor of LTE, which will mean billing by the byte.
The broadband in this country is joke. The prices keep going up, the caps keep getting lower, the consumer has less choice, and these companies just keep getting richer.
Broadband, like other public utilities- should be regulated. These damned companies are getting away with murder because of bought and paid for politicians who look out for their interests instead of ours.

[LetMeOffThisPlanet]

09:14 AM on 05/19/2011

...and any government regulation of that industry would also be a joke, because of the very bought and paid for politicians you mentioned. Our only hope is that competition shows up. Otherwise, they'll charge whatever people will willingly pay.

[LetMeOffThisPlanet]

04:57 PM on 05/18/2011

I dropped cable months ago and have been using Netflix almost exclusively (supplementing with iTunes via AppleTV for HD rentals on occasion). I don't miss cable one bit, and I certainly don't miss the $60+/month that it cost me. Hopefully the major studios will get the picture and start releasing more instant content. Get on board, or go the way of the music industry.

[Edna Crabapple]

07:57 PM on 05/18/2011

I would get onboard, if I didn't have to rely on the local cableco for both tv and internet. There is no other choice unless I want to go back to dial-up.
I would drop cable too, but since the cableco owns the ISP, this would raise my bill substantially, and I would still be subject to a 50 GB monthly cap.
Not everyone is as fortunate as you to have fast uncapped broadband. For the rest of us, they have us by the short and curly's....

[LetMeOffThisPlanet]

09:23 AM on 05/19/2011

That last sentence was aimed at studios getting on board Netflix, not consumers. TV is not a necessity (neither is internet access for some, but I recognize that isn't true for everyone). No one is forcing us to buy cable service. *That* is your other choice... choosing not to pay. If everyone who has a problem with the cost of their cable service were to cancel, you'd see a big change in prices, pretty quickly. The problem is that people whine about the prices while handing over a check.

BTW, I currently don't have any choice but Time Warner Cable in my area. FiOS isn't currently available. Paying for internet access only is far cheaper than internet access and digital cable for me, despite losing a bit of a discount on internet.

[AllureAye]

01:57 PM on 05/19/2011

I have been using Netflix exclusively since the wii Streaming in April 2010, or so. I did away with cable Feb 2010... best decision of my life. Hoping to get AppleTV for my birthday next week so I can enjoy my digital-converted DVDs I worked on for 3 years...

[mistercrispyusa]

04:35 PM on 05/18/2011

Hey AT&T, I've been paying for years for broadband I never used. Paid in full for at least three years and only used a fraction for most of it, maybe 300mb a month average. So...based on your own scheme for rollover minutes, where you backlog unused minutes for up to a year, that's 150GB per month for 12 months subtracting the 300mb used each 12 months rolling in at 3.6 gb, I'm calculating my rollover bandwidth would be 1,796.4GB you owe me for services I paid for but have not utilized yet. Go ahead and tag that onto the end of my bill, and you can charge me when I exceed it, Mmmmkay?

[ObamAtomic]

04:42 PM on 05/18/2011

X2

100% correct -We all need our unused GB rollback.
Adding all those GB will amount to Mega-millions of GB!

[awckid3]

04:27 PM on 05/18/2011

The sixth season of American Dad! arrived in the mail today. Hooray!

[JackHoffman]

04:16 PM on 05/18/2011

It is still difficult to believe that the infrastructure that controls the free flow of information, that was invented and initially built by the Govt.(read tax payers), is now controlled by Corporations, such as AT&T, who are can charge what they want, restrict usage when they want and choke off access when they please and the only regulator of such actions is the corporate bought and owned FCC. How did this happen?

[LetMeOffThisPlanet]

04:28 PM on 05/18/2011

Corporations can't just charge whatever they please. Consumers won't pay for services they think are overpriced and will move to other service providers. When that happens, prices come down to entice new customers and to compete with other companies offering the same or similar services. Also, I assume you're under the impression that the government would do a better job running operations of the major backbones. I don't share that belief.

[Edna Crabapple]

08:13 PM on 05/18/2011

"Corporatio­ns can't just charge whatever they please. Consumers won't pay for services they think are overpriced and will move to other service providers."

YES they CAN charge whatever they please when they are a monopoly and the only game in town...

[JackHoffman]

12:09 AM on 05/19/2011

Thank you for your detailed response. No, I do not believe the the Govt. should be running any operations in this matter. But let's go to some of your points. First, in order to move to a competitor one has to have it available. In most cases there is only one, maybe two, available. The rest are resellers off of the same fiber so prices are relatively equal give or take negligible pennies. Second, the 'backbone' is akin or analogous to the build out of the railway system across America in the 19th century that eventually had to be broken up just as the telecom infrastructure in the '80's even though AT&T had built it out. What I am saying here is that the laying of fiber is hardly ever redundant with various companies making piggy back deals. What, I believe, should happen is that there should be more players allowed to access the infrastructure and, whether through auction or not, only then we may have some real competition. The "information super highway" (sorry for the cliche) has matured enough that it should not be allowed to operate as a practical monopoly in certain areas. (read rural) and the country as a whole. It is a difficult thing to figure out and I don't have the answer but I don't think what's happening now is working. Cheers!

[ltague]

04:35 PM on 05/18/2011

George W. Bush.
faved.

[alexunlv]

03:56 PM on 05/18/2011

Unfortunately, we have old school companies like AT&T who want to horde everything and prevent users from experiencing these new technologies without them gouging them with fees.

This whole ideas of "caps" with online bandwidth is petty. Who do they think they are fooling? These "caps" are pointless - what, if they cap you at 10gb, a year from now with software evolving requiring more data, will they cap you at half a movie because they will be 20gb in size?

AT&T is nothing more than another greedy corporate enterprise that doesn't understand changing technologies. These people just don't understand the internets and googles. They don't know what to do so they try to gouge users in all the wrong places.

We need more innovation - and we more desperately need more people majoring in Management Information Systems - we need to prevent these old school thinkers from trying to force their old business model on changing technologies.

These dinosaurs need to be brought up to date.

[RTIII]

09:18 PM on 05/18/2011

That's wrong.

They understand them perfectly well and are out to capitalize on every potential penny.

[alexunlv]

11:12 PM on 05/18/2011

Well, they are trying to capitalize on every potential penny - but they are doing it in a manner that is not viable in the long term (see example above regarding changing technologies/data size).

They need to change their model and stop trying to gouge users for everything, which is what they are doing now. They see money to be made in everything, not understanding that such a view is not sustainable in the long run.

[BroBrigham]

03:36 PM on 05/18/2011

Here is an idea, kill bittorrents and then Netflix can stay without ISPs having to get all butt hurt.

[LetMeOffThisPlanet]

03:51 PM on 05/18/2011

Is this a serious statement?

[playsindirt]

03:00 PM on 05/18/2011

I thought Netflix would bomb - just the idea that people would sit and wait for movies to come to their mailboxes seemed like a short-term idea and revenue stream. Their management deserves high praise for taking it to the next level.

[mogendaved]

03:42 PM on 05/18/2011

pssst ... It was called "NetFlix" , which part of the companies title were you ever confused by, lol

[Professor Zoom]

04:13 PM on 05/18/2011

I totally don't get your comment.

[RTIII]

09:22 PM on 05/18/2011

Sorry, but as both a long-time Netflix customer AND as someone who has consulted to the company regarding their service delivery, the "net" part of their name was in reference to the fact that you could order the DVDs you wanted over the internet, and had _nothing_ to do with the delivery of content (movies) over the internet. This was a large innovation from having instead to go to movie rental store like Blockbuster.

Perhaps you're too young to remember such things.

[alexunlv]

03:54 PM on 05/18/2011

I totally agree. I always thought little of Netflix until online streaming was offered. These people moved in the right direction.

[frank day]

02:59 PM on 05/18/2011

Netflix and Hulu Plus have allowed us to kick Comcast out on the street.

[dcarn2]

03:17 PM on 05/18/2011

I'd agree w/ you on hulu but not hulu plus as you can't watch many shows on any mobile devices or game consoles. If you want a nice free streaming website check out www . seeon . tv

[frank day]

03:19 PM on 05/18/2011

We stream Hulu Plus on our Xbox 360.

We also have a media PC hooked to our HDTV.

[ObamAtomic]

04:44 PM on 05/18/2011

Netflix - Hulu and Roku allow me to kick Directv for ever.

[AlsoSarah]

02:57 PM on 05/18/2011

I will never forget when Netflix was still mailing their movies. I complained once because a movie I had ordered never got here. I got a call...from Netflix! There was a gentleman on the other end. He asked me questions, always polite and concerned. He honestly wanted to know how I felt and what I thought. Then he told me if I ever needed any help or had any problems to call him. Gave me his name and number. I was SHOCKED. It's called CUSTOMER SERVICE. And that is why Netflix is BOOMING.

[CANTHATBE]

03:46 PM on 05/18/2011

customer service is definetly a lost art Most other companies just want any warm body at minimum wage to answer the phone.

[Out to Lunch]

04:02 PM on 05/18/2011

??? Netflix still mails movies.

[leanforward]

06:27 PM on 05/18/2011

um..yeah brighteyes. only about 1/4 of their movies are streamable, and that includes new releases

[RTIII]

09:24 PM on 05/18/2011

Yes. I have the three disks at a time option and use it to augment my streaming usage. I use the actual DVDs when I want the director's cut materials and other extras, and sometimes when I want to ensure that there's no service issues, such as when I'm traveling.

[todaysjustus]

02:31 PM on 05/18/2011

What's new? Companies are always trying to find a way to charge customers for everything. If they could figure out how to privatize air and charge us per breath, they would.

[LetMeOffThisPlanet]

03:48 PM on 05/18/2011

Wow... this one inspired me to create and account so I could respond. Have you *really* thought that one through? Companies *make money* by selling goods and services. Why would they offer you something for free when it costs them money to provide the service? Funny, your second statement was about privatization of air, when it's actually our government that wants to charge us per breath, now isn't it?

[todaysjustus]

03:58 PM on 05/18/2011

Yaaay! I inspired someone! Cool!

You do realize I was being facetious though, right? I am not sure if your reply is facetious in turn. Perhaps you can let me know? :)

[RTIII]

09:26 PM on 05/18/2011

No, our government doesn't want to charge anyone for AIR, but the government SHOULD be pushing poluters to STOP putting polution into the air, so what we humans have to breathe is actually breathable! Is _that_ what you were talking about?

[kmichal2000]

03:54 PM on 05/18/2011

"how to privatize air"

It's called cap and trade.

[todaysjustus]

04:27 PM on 05/18/2011

Well.. I meant more along the lines of bottled air and/or a monthly bill for air intake.

[Nobody78]

02:30 PM on 05/18/2011

Netflix will not last to much longer. Most internet providers are also cable TV providers and will do what ever it takes to stop them.

[AlsoSarah]

02:50 PM on 05/18/2011

That is a true statement. But Netflix challenges the present order and offers a better product at a fair price.

[D Moon]

03:02 PM on 05/18/2011

That would be illegal sir.

[mogendaved]

03:43 PM on 05/18/2011

so far it is, but there is a hard rain gonna fall

[CANTHATBE]

03:47 PM on 05/18/2011

in another time. USA companies are above USA law.

[Nobody78]

02:29 PM on 05/18/2011

I just switched to Verizon Fios because they are one of the only ISP's that aren't capping or throttle their bandwidth (YET). It felt so good to call Time Warner and tell them to come get their $#!! out of my house. I told them I was cancelling their service because they throttled it. I know not even has access to Fios, but if the people that can get Fios should, and if enough people tell their current ISP that they are leaving because they are being capped, it would send a clear message.

[Morena]

08:45 PM on 05/18/2011

Haha! Love your post!

So far my cable company provides speedy, reliable, uncapped service for $50. But who knows when they'll switch things up.

[RTIII]

09:30 PM on 05/18/2011

You are VERY correct. Good job.

Note that I use Covad, who was just purchased by Megapath, and there is no capping.