I have no issues with netflix, and you can't always blame everything on Verizon. If you really want to see what ports are open for your stream. When streaming a video, open a command prompt and execute netstat -f and it will show you the FQDN that the ports are open to. If you want the options for that command, execute netstat -? some simple basic network commands will tell you much about where your computer is actually connecting. Then trace to that point.
This is a trace to just one of multiple servers.
C:\Windows\system32>tracert ipv4_1.lagg0.c018.iad001.ix.nflxvideo.net
Tracing route to ipv4_1.lagg0.c018.iad001.ix.nflxvideo.net [108.175.35.137]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms moat1.localnet [192.168.2.1]
2 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms FWDR-192.FWDR-168.FWDR-1.FWDR-1 [192.168.1.1]
3 77 ms 36 ms 122 ms L100.WASHDC-VFTTP-69.verizon-gni.net [x.x.x.x]
4 5 ms 7 ms 7 ms G0-8-1-2.WASHDC-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net [130.81.219.146]
5 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms so-12-1-0-0.RES-BB-RTR1.verizon-gni.net [130.81.151.230]
6 7 ms 5 ms 5 ms 0.xe-5-1-2.XL3.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.7.241]
7 8 ms 10 ms 10 ms TenGigE0-4-2-0.GW1.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.38.254]
8 24 ms 24 ms 24 ms teliasonera-gw.customer.alter.net [63.125.125.42]
9 49 ms 48 ms * netflix-ic-156694-ash-bb1.c.telia.net [213.248.101.26]
10 20 ms 20 ms 58 ms ipv4_1.lagg0.c018.iad001.ix.nflxvideo.net [108.175.35.137]
Trace complete.
C:\Windows\system32>
You may notice some latency between alter.net and the customer peering point. If the customer don't pay for it, it isn't free. The customer being Netflix. Netflix is providing a pay for video feed, which is a business to make money. Well look at it this way, Verizon does the same thing, and it is VOD. Should a company provide free bandwidth to their competition. Verizon too is an entertainment provider. If Netflix starts dropping feeds, they will start dropping customers. I have told Netflix to pound sand three different times. A couple times for content, and once for quality of the feed. Now a few years later, I figured I would give them another shot, since I am running a 100% Microsoft Media Center setup with various extenders.
I noticed multiple connections open for the video.
