[windexh8er]

Netflix rarely consumes Internet traffic as your statement assumes. Netflix has content caching at, pretty much, most legitimately sized ISP and peering points today. That means you're probably watching your content without leaving your ISPs network. The ISP pays pretty much nothing for transport (because Netflix provides them with a way to alleviate that) however the customer gets better service and quality of Netflix because the content is local. While this isn't always true neither is the thought that all traffic is heading back to Netflix HQ and saturating all of the Internet links in between.

[JustSomeNobody]

Then how is fast.com effective at all? It was created to show that ISPs were throttling Netflix, but if Netflix has boxes at peering points, this seems moot.

[deno]

They peer with Netflix for free then demand extra money to actually keep peering for free at proper capacity. They want money for connecting an extra cable to their router. It’s a protection racket pure and simple.

[diab0lic]

The speed test is running on said boxes at the peering points. It tests how fast your connection is to the open connect appliance.

https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/building-fast-com-4857fe...

[JustSomeNobody]

Ahh... ok, thanks. That makes a lot of sense.

[reitanqild]

I'd guess it indicates capacity if you try to watch something that isn't cached?