COVID-19 vs. our Networks

Sat Mar 21 16:25:32 UTC 2020

On 21/Mar/20 13:28, Florian Weimer wrote:

>
> 4K isn't supported by all devices and plans.  I'm not sure what kind
> of savings you can actually realize there.  It could be that 4K
> content isn't worth caching near the edge.  Then ditching 4K could
> still have a significant effect despite relatively low usage by
> subscribers.  Similarly anything that reduces content diversity (like
> serving only one category of 1080p streams).

In South Africa, the majority of the population does not own 4K-capable
TV's.

Also, most people do not have access to FTTH services. And for many that
do, having a 25Mbps slot lying around for 4K Netflix is even less common.

That said, a recent survey in the country indicated that the majority of
Netflix subscribers that were polled subscribed to the 4K package. It
wasn't clear whether what they actually wanted as 4K capability or the
ability to support 4 simultaneous streams. Personally, I suspect the latter.

>   Reportedly, the issue is
> backhaul capacity for some CDN nodes in Europe, and not capacity from
> the local cache to the subscriber, but I do not have any direct
> knowledge of that.

It could go either way, but the reason the cache-fill theory is one I do
not necessarily think will create a bottleneck is because Netflix push
content to OCA's or public clusters during off-peak times.

Pressure is more likely to be placed on the edge and the last mile, if
that; but that comes back to why the customers want to spend their own
money, and not having Command & Control tell them how, or why.

Mark.