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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

Note that your municipal fiber network partners with Qwilt to preferentially accelerate commercial streaming platforms like Netflix.

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What’s the big deal? It’s just a content cache. You can get dedicated cache appliances directly from Netflix for free if you have a large enough customer base.

I didn't say it was a big deal, but then, I think "net neutrality" is pretty silly.

Caches do not break net neutrality.

Nothing wrong with the concept of net neutrality. Implementations may be lacking, but I do not recall any major issues with the EU regulations. Perhaps all the perceived silliness is a result of the US legislature?

Preferential caching for streaming services that play ball with your ISP don't break net neutrality?

Isn't "preferential caching" just Netflix providing a caching server for free to the ISP? Is this that different from Netflix building more CDN servers worldwide? It is Netflix paying in either case without exploiting their monopoly powers.

Clearly not a pro but I think it comes down to who Netflix is paying, or even helping out. Because they gave Nextlight a free caching server, any competitor who can't afford to do the same now has decreased performance.

That is an interesting way of looking at things. Netflix adding a cache has absolutely no impact on what any competitor does, or the quality of their service. It will function precisely the same the day before and the day after a Netflix cache is installed.

Actually at the very large ISP I worked at customers saw better performance because the back haul wasn’t congested with Netflix traffic.

Yes; this, broadly, is why I think "neutrality" is kind of a silly concept.

Whoah I did not know that and it directly conflicts with their TOS. Do you have a link to that?

It's in the comprehensive financial statement for Longmont, which I pulled up looking to see the economics of your muni fiber system (I'm on the local commission in my muni that considers stuff like this, and the numbers didn't make sense for us --- but you're in an exurb, so the math is different.)

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