Netflix today said it will end the ISP-specific congestion warnings that prompted Verizon to threaten a lawsuit, but reserved the right to use them again in the future.
In a Monday blog post, Netflix said that a test of these warnings started in early May and will end on June 16. "We will evaluate rolling it out more broadly," the company said.
At issue are alerts that Netflix is displaying to streaming customers that blame their ISPs for slow service. "The Verizon network is crowded right now," reads the warning served up to Verizon FiOS users.
That prompted Verizon to threaten legal action if the alerts are not discontinued. And while Netflix will end the tests, it is not exactly apologizing.
"Some broadband providers argue that our actions, and not theirs, are causing a degraded Netflix experience," Netflix said. "Netflix does not purposely select congested routes. We pay some of the world's largest transit networks to deliver Netflix video right to the front door of an ISP. Where the problem occurs is at that door - the interconnection point - when the broadband provider hasn't provided enough capacity to accommodate the traffic their customer requested."
In a letter to Netflix last week, however, Verizon argued that "there are many different factors that can affect traffic on the Internet, including choices by Netflix in how to connect its customers and deliver content to them, interconnection between multiple networks, and consumer in-home issues such as in-home wiring, Wi-Fi, and devices settings and capabilities."
In a follow-up blog post, Verizon said that "It would be more accurate for Netflix's message screen to say: 'The path that we have chosen to reach Verizon's network is crowded right now.'
But Netflix today reiterated its charge that "some large U.S. ISPs are erecting toll booths, providing sufficient capacity for services requested by their subscribers to flow through only when those services pay the toll."
"In this way, ISPs are double-dipping by getting both their subscribers and Internet content providers to pay for access to each other," Netflix continued. "We believe these ISP tolls are wrong because they raise costs, stifle innovation and harm consumers. ISPs should provide sufficient capacity into their network to provide consumers the broadband experience for which they pay."
The Netflix blog post also laid out its May speed index rankings, which highlights the ISPs that provide the best primetime Netflix streaming experience.
Netflix said that Comcast and Verizon - two ISPs with which Netflix has signed inter-connection deals and battled publicly - slipped in the last month.
"Charter has entered the top three ISPs while Verizon and Comcast both slipped in the major ISP rankings," Netflix said. "Verizon FiOS is down two slots and now ranks behind DSL providers Frontier and Windstream. Comcast dipped two spots as well, while Verizon DSL is down one."
According to Netflix's stats, Comcast slipped from an average speak during peak times of 2.77 Mbps to 2.72 Mbps month over month, while Verizon FiOS dropped from 1.99 Mbps to 1.90 Mbps.
In April, the average speed on Comcast's network for Netflix streams for April was up 65 percent from 1.51 Mbps in January to 2.5 Mbps in March, thanks to the interconnection deal that Netflix inked with the ISP.