Adaptive QoS / Netflix

[TwistedKestrel]

I have a feeling Netflix has changed up how they deliver their streaming video recently - In the last month, I've watched it change (via apps analysis in Adaptive QoS on an RT-AC56U) from "Netflix" to "SSL/TLS" to "Web File Transfer". So whatever, the Trend Micro module may or may not get updated to reflect that at some point, not a big deal. What is a big deal is that Netflix now seems to sidestep QoS, whereas before it used to respect it. I can set the downstream bandwidth to 50% of actual capacity or lower with no effect, Netflix will somehow use up the full capacity of my connection... which is only 6.3mbps DSL.

Is there anything I can do? Some evenings there can be up to 3 people trying to watch Netflix here, so it can be pretty frustrating to try to do something like playing a game

 

[netwrks]

Have you looked at your NF playback settings? Here's a link to NF's minimum setting for streaming..

 

[TwistedKestrel]

Have you looked at your NF playback settings? Here's a link to NF's minimum setting for streaming..

It's set to HD. According to their rough guide on the side, my connection can accomodate it. In practice, once a stream is buffered, it uses much less than 5mbps, but it streams data in bursts - and those bursts saturate the connection for as long as they last.

 

[thiggins]

Maybe they did change their algorithms. Netflix used to adapt to whatever bandwidth you gave it, dropping resolution. For that reason, I could not use it when testing router QoS features.

 

[sfx2000]

Netflix has been evolving their Content Delivery Network strategy for some time now, so it's reasonable to assume that they may have made changes...

http://www.slideshare.net/facepalmtarbz2/slides-41343025

One thing to consider - Carrier DNS vs. 3rd Party DNS (OpenDNS, Neustar, Google, etc...) may provide lookups that are sub-optimal for your end-point, esp. if one is also using VPN to geo-unlock content from Netflix...