Verizon Is Already Throttling YouTube And Netflix, Net Neutrality Is Dying

One of the biggest points of reassurance that FCC head Ajit Pai is trying to sell in dismantling Net Neutrality involves asking users to trust ISPs not abusing their power. According to him, carriers will not be throttling certain online services in favor of others even if the current rules preventing them from doing so are removed. Well, Verizon just did this by slowing down speeds to YouTube and Netflix.

The slowdown was noticed by users last week when using the Netflix speed-test tool revealed that speeds could only reach 10Mbps, Ars Technica reports. This applied specifically to Verizon customers, which prompted users to conclude that the carrier might have been capping the internet connection going to the movie streaming site.

Netflix was not the only service affected by the slower connection speeds either. Even some YouTube users were reporting capping and the only way they could get past it was to use a VPN tool.

In response to the criticisms and the questions being put to the carrier, Verizon responded to the publication via a spokesperson. Apparently, the company was doing some work on its network, which resulted in impacting the speeds going to select sectors.

"We've been doing network testing over the past few days to optimize the performance of video applications on our network," the spokesperson said. "The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected."

On a technical standpoint, this problem really only affects a few users, the International Business Times pointed out. After all, standard HD streaming requires a minimum of 5Mbps and only those who require 4K quality would need something like 25Mbps. On that note, it’s not really so much about the slower speeds that bother users but the idea that specific services are being targeted by carriers. Right now, this is looking like the direction ISPs are heading.