For optimal Netflix streaming, one needs a speed of at least 75 Mbps. Surprised? Don’t be. Or at least this is what a Verizon sales rep told analyst Dan Rayburn. As per the analyst, the networking company sales rep said he should upgrade to 75 Mbps for “smoother video viewing” and “better quality.”
High even by Netflix standards
In a blog post, Rayburn said he contacted Verizon to inquire about his two-year Triple Pplay contact, which offers a speed of 50 Mbps. The analyst noted that the 50 Mbps is more than sufficient for almost any HD viewing.
Supporting his statement, the analyst says that during the Season 5 premiere of HBO’s Game Of Thrones, he had ten streams running at the same time via HBO Now and Sling TV, and for all that he only “consumed just under 29Mbps of my 50Mbps connection and all ten streams had perfect quality.”
According to Netflix, its standard definition streaming service consumes about 1 GB data per hour for every stream of standard definition video. Netflix recommends 3 Mbps for a standard definition content. However, for HD video, which consumes about 3 GB per hour, per stream, the company recommends about 5 Mbps. And for Ultra HD streaming, Netflix believes at least 25 Mbps should be there.
Is Verizon behind all this?
An analyst at Frost & Sullivan, Rayburn was one of the supporters of Verizon during its fight with Netflix last year. However, now the analyst accuses Verizon of setting “false expectations” for the customers. Rayburn believes the advice he got from the sales rep is intentional as he got the same pitch from three sales reps over the phone and one online. However, a Verizon spokesperson told Ars Technica that they “reviewed tens of thousands of calls to make sure that’s not the case and it’s not.”
Rayburn being an analyst, was immediately able to realize that he was being served nonsense by the sales reps, but for a normal user, realizing this might not be easy, thus leading them to subscribe for a premium plan. Also it’s unclear if such a sales pitch is coming from the company itself or it’s just a strategy devised by the sales reps to hit their targets.
