- On the net neutrality front, new research suggests that the country's biggest telecoms are slowing traffic to some of the most popular apps -- particularly video, including YouTube (GOOG -1.7%, GOOGL -1.6%) and Netflix (NFLX -1.2%).
- YouTube is the top target of throttling, according to the study from Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. But data speeds are also slowing for Amazon Prime Video (AMZN +1.4%) and the NBC Sports app (CMCSA -1.3%), based on research using the smartphone app Wehe.
- The study calls out "differentiation" in traffic treatment in more than 11,100 occasions by Verizon (VZ -2.5%); 8,398 times by AT&T (T -0.7%); nearly 3,900 times at T-Mobile (TMUS -0.4%); and 339 times at Sprint (S +0.1%).
- Carriers meanwhile say they are throttling to manage network traffic and sacrifice speed in order to deliver videos. "Unequivocally we are not selectively throttling by what property it is," AT&T's John Donovan says. "We don’t look at any traffic differently than any other traffic."
- Donovan compares the throttling to an electricity grid where some customers sign up for rolling blackouts in return for cheaper service.
- Previously: California Senate rallies votes for tough net neutrality bill (Aug. 31 2018)
- Previously: Net neutrality fight takes root in California (Aug. 31 2018)
- Previously: Lawmakers press for probe into Verizon's firefighter throttling (Aug. 24 2018)
- Now read: Netflix And The Competition
Original article