Nick Rempel
@nbrempel · https://rempel.world
This is a really interesting move. I think it is common for ISPs to prioritize traffic to speed testing websites in order to inflate the test numbers. At the same time, many ISPs throttle Netflix use. By aiming to be a popular speed testing site, Netflix empowers the consumers to call out ISPs that are cheating their customers.
Normally, an ISP could just add the speed test site to their whitelist for high priority traffic. In this case, that would not only improve the test numbers here but also improve the quality of Netflix streaming since the test uses Netflix's streaming servers!
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Alan Garrec
@alangarrec · CoworkerCoffee.com, Montréal
My thoughts exactly @nbrempel - a really smart move by Netflix.
A domain like that could easily have cost $1 million and I think we know a company like Netflix doesn't shell out that kind of cash just to build a "simpler" version of speedtest.net
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Jack Dweck
@jackdweck · Product Manager at Unroll.Me
@alangarrec looks like they also own http://slow.com 😄
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Alan Garrec
@alangarrec · CoworkerCoffee.com, Montréal
@jackdweck - yeah I thought so too, but whois is different, and a dude on HN said it's his and he just redirected it: https://news.ycombinator.com/ite...
Still - they could buy it 💰
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Deron Sizemore
@deronsizemore · Owner - ColorFavs.com and GolfLedger.com
@nbrempel So essentially ISP's can't whitelist this domain without also positively effecting Netflix streaming services?
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Rushabh Gandhi
@grushabh · Special Projects, CloudFlare
@nbrempel Its a classic 'video platform that does not want to pay for bandwidth' vs ISP move. Similar to https://www.google.com/get/video...
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