EU urges streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube to limit broadband use

nanoguy

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Why it matters: Social distancing and working from home are important measures in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, but that also means there will be additional strain on telecom companies' networks. The EU is asking streaming companies and users to reduce bandwidth usage as much as possible to prevent congestion.

With more countries going into a state of emergency and urging everyone to work from home, internet bandwidth usage is going to be used a lot more than ever before. Even Conan O'Brien's team is working from home to get the show back on air by the end of this month, and Microsoft is seeing a surge in the number of Teams users thanks to more people studying and working remotely.

Many more people will likely flood the backbones of the internet with traffic from streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, so the EU has asked these providers to take immediate measures and limit their bandwidth usage. To that end, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton says he has personally asked Netflix CEO Reed Hastings via phone to switch all accounts to standard definition when high definition isn't necessary, such as during peak traffic hours.

Breton is also asking users to be more mindful of their data consumption as broadband providers aren't really equipped to deal with more than the natural evening surges in overall internet traffic. This makes perfect sense as many are now holding interviews, work collaboration, meetings, and school classes online, and it's no secret that video account for a significant chunk of overall internet traffic.

Italy and Spain have seen rises in residential data traffic of almost 75 percent after the lockdown measures went into effect, and telecom companies are currently in talks to find solutions. Vodafone, which is the world's second largest mobile operator, has seen a similar situation in Germany and the UK, noting that peak usage can now be observed between 12 PM and 9 PM instead of between 6 PM and 8 PM like it was in the past.

For its part, Netflix has confirmed to Engadget that it will reduce the video bitrate for European users by around 25 percent for the next 30 days. While this may seem significant, it's unlikely that most people will notice the difference, and it's a small price to pay to prevent network congestion.

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Here in USA: Youtube, is the only of those services I use but I have unlimited data over AT&T and on Verizon FIOS.

Thing is: what made them ever think game streaming services were ever gonna work when you get throttled or capped?
 
Maybe they should upgrade, finally. Lay more cables and whatever it takes. They have been milking users for a decade with no real improvements. Have EU shell out some money for this endeavor.
I am sick of rich people telling what "poor" people should be doing. Maybe they just shouldn't work from home at all, and still get payed, like EU delegates do and other politicians. Several hours per week for a fat paycheck.
Austerity on the bandwidth, just so they don't have extra expenses or have to "do" anything.
I am sitting at home in self-isolation (curfew really) what am I supposed to do? Take up Bird Watching?
 
If redusing a 56 kbprsec modem to 1 kb would it save the rainforest.or t1 line to 1kb /s not bits ? if lines getting bad speed. tell the isp not to do that. no I at 1 gb line. I was bugged with 100 mb and downgraded to 11 mb. isp was close to be kikked out. I I want to see house of cards in 4k I m getting denied. and must download from tpb sites ? turning off every t1 line would be nice. I got unlimited speed and not gurgle gurgle speed at 1 kb and 1 bits.
 
If redusing a 56 kbprsec modem to 1 kb would it save the rainforest.or t1 line to 1kb /s not bits ? if lines getting bad speed. tell the isp not to do that. no I at 1 gb line. I was bugged with 100 mb and downgraded to 11 mb. isp was close to be kikked out. I I want to see house of cards in 4k I m getting denied. and must download from tpb sites ? turning off every t1 line would be nice. I got unlimited speed and not gurgle gurgle speed at 1 kb and 1 bits.
Do you mean you support slower speeds but want a baseline for 4K streaming?
 
Do you mean you support slower speeds but want a baseline for 4K streaming?
upd they now put a better bitrate over 1080p on youtube. then you have to pay to get youre 2k-8k uploaded to youtube.

upd that was just a exsample about if you had a 56 kbps line and youre downed to about14kbps or 1 if you downloade over 10-1000 mb files. yusing a 56 means you pay for every byte an minute.
 
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