Verizon: That peering flap (about Netflix) is Cogent's fault
Earlier this week we reported that a peering flap between Verizon and Cogent Communications was the reason some folks were having sub-optimal experience when trying to get access to Netflix content.
Context & Ripple Effects
The dispute follows reports of Netflix access problems tied to Verizon two days earlier. Verizon's public response reframes the issue from an ISP-side customer experience problem into a disagreement with Cogent over the interconnection path carrying Netflix traffic.
The stakes are unusually high because Netflix accounted for nearly one-third of internet traffic entering North American homes in May 2013. That volume makes a peering dispute between Verizon and Cogent consequential for Netflix viewers even though neither company directly controls Netflix's programming.
First-order effects
- Verizon places responsibility for the suboptimal Netflix experience on Cogent, putting Cogent under pressure to contest or resolve the peering claim.
- Netflix subscribers whose traffic traverses the Verizon-Cogent connection remain exposed to poorer streaming performance while the carriers dispute the route.
Second-order effects
- Netflix's scale turns interconnection capacity into a visible part of its customer experience, giving Verizon, Cogent and Netflix stronger incentives to address delivery arrangements rather than treat them as back-end plumbing.
- The public attribution fight shifts scrutiny toward each carrier's peering practices, rather than leaving Netflix alone to answer for streaming quality.
Third-order effects
- If high-volume video services repeatedly surface in carrier peering disputes, broadband competition will increasingly be judged by interconnection performance as well as last-mile access.
- The episode points toward a delivery market in which the terms for moving major content traffic become a strategic bargaining point between access networks and transit providers.
The trend: Streaming video’s growing share of household traffic is making once-obscure peering arrangements a public battleground over service quality and network bargaining power.