story behind "why netflix built fast.com" is brilliant.
so, netflix had a massive fight with ISPs around 2014-2016. ISPs were slowing down netflix on purpose. they wanted more money from netflix
customers got bad streaming. but ISPs just blamed netflix.
netflix had to pay comcast, verizon, at&t and time warner for direct connections to their networks.
but in 2016, they launched fast dot com, clever part - It's not testing your general internet speed. It's testing your speed to netflix's servers specifically. so when someone complained about buffering, netflix could say "run fast dot com." If it's slow, the ISP is the bottleneck.
suddenly millions of people had a tool to prove their ISP was the problem
ISPs couldn't hide anymore.
netflix positioned themselves as the transparent good guys fighting for customers while ISPs looked like greedy monopolies
they solved a pr problem and a customer service problem with one simple website
I guess, that's how you win a corporate war
so, netflix had a massive fight with ISPs around 2014-2016. ISPs were slowing down netflix on purpose. they wanted more money from netflix
customers got bad streaming. but ISPs just blamed netflix.
netflix had to pay comcast, verizon, at&t and time warner for direct connections to their networks.
but in 2016, they launched fast dot com, clever part - It's not testing your general internet speed. It's testing your speed to netflix's servers specifically. so when someone complained about buffering, netflix could say "run fast dot com." If it's slow, the ISP is the bottleneck.
suddenly millions of people had a tool to prove their ISP was the problem
ISPs couldn't hide anymore.
netflix positioned themselves as the transparent good guys fighting for customers while ISPs looked like greedy monopolies
they solved a pr problem and a customer service problem with one simple website
I guess, that's how you win a corporate war
this blew up way more than expected lol. I just love building and sharing my weird, fun side projects scratching my own itch.
here’s my full collection if you’re into weekend experiments ranging from raspi hardware hacks to full stack apps, extensions, scripts, local AI/ML stuff :
pankajtanwar.in/side-hustles
here’s my full collection if you’re into weekend experiments ranging from raspi hardware hacks to full stack apps, extensions, scripts, local AI/ML stuff :
pankajtanwar.in/side-hustles
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