Like many Netflix customers, I have become more and more frustrated with the connection problems when trying to use their movie streaming service, something they euphemistically call “Watch Instantly.
Here’s a how Sky Van Buren, a writer for Men At Home, describes his Netflix experience:
What swell folks at Netflix!
Out of the goodness of their little hearts — and perhaps to stave off competitor services like those from iTunes — some months ago they started offering subscribers “free” movie video streaming that they call “Watch Instantly.”
For the first few months, it was a neat little service. Don’t have time to wait for another movie to arrive in the mail? Too tired to do anything else and decide at the last minute to watch a movie? “Watch Instantly” to the rescue!
Sure, the selections weren’t always the most current, but the library was deep enough to keep even a movie buff like me at my computer screen.
Overwhelmed by their own success, Netflix’s servers are now overwhelmed. “Watch Instantly” used to mean “instantly,” i.e. the server checked your video connection and the movie started. Simple!
Not anymore. I’ve been keeping count. During the past three weeks I have tried to start a movie 178 times — often the same movie to see if I could get it to start streaming. ONLY ONCE in 178 tries did the movie start streaming the first time I tapped on that little blue “play” button. Wait times have ranged from four hours up to 6 days. In the screen capture above, it says I will have to wait 48 minutes before my selected movie starts to play. By then, I will have slashed my wrists, made obscene phone calls to former girlfriends, and probably write this blog.
And it’s gotten worse. Customers used to be able to reset that play button until they caught the Netflix server at the right moment and the movie started. It was a little like playing the lottery. Sometimes you won, usually you lost. But now Netflix has caught on to this little game and changed the rules. Try to reload the movie and you will get an error message that says you have two movies running, which is against Netflix policies. The only way out of this dead end is to close all your browsers and start over.
Keep in mind that a few weeks ago I went through an entire series of diagnostic routines with my PC and with my cable provider that proved beyond a doubt that my Internet connection was indeed fast enough — I run a top-of-the-line system here! The problem is clearly at the Netflix end.
Netflix used to be fun. When I slashed my cable TV connection, Netflix gave me access to great movies at a reasonable price. Now they are one of the scourges of my little world. Like one of Skinner’s rats, each time a movie fails to start, that’s one more shock to my furry head saying, “Don’t bother!” And I am beginning to think I won’t.
Netflix 1, Customers 0.
6 responses so far ↓
Brad // October 10, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Despite the fact that you think you have a top of the line system and a super-fast internet connection, you probably don’t. I’ve been using the Watch Instantly feature for about a year or so and rarely get anything but an amazing picture. The only times I have problems like you experienced are when I’m using a slower public internet connection on my laptop. I’d look into switching ISPs.
Rake Morgan // October 10, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I appreciate your comments, Brad. But I think Sky pointed out that he went through a variety of diagnostic routines with his ISP and there were no problems at that end. He also bypassed the router on his network. Same problem.
As for myself I have had similar problems. I will point out that I am an avid flight simulator player and routinely have multiple internet connections for ATC, flight visualization, etc. and my internet connection has been flawless. Similarly, all other online video streaming is perfect — cable TV broadcasts, music, sports events, etc.
I just can’t buy the fact that Netflix has not over-sold its services and now cannot keep up with demand.
Pepe Randulfe // February 17, 2009 at 12:30 am
Yeah! Same experience here. The most funny thing is that now you get a message saying that “My connection has slowed down”. Yeah right! It only happens with Netflix servers. I can’t wait for the competition to come up with enough server power to deliver those movies.
Netflix, nice service… but you are not there yet!
Lily // February 17, 2009 at 4:17 am
I hear ya. I started using the ‘watch instantly’ portion of Netflix about a year ago and it worked flawlessly 95% of the time. The other 5% was a non-issue for me. Until now. My connection speeds are faster than a year ago and yet for some unknown reason Netflix doesn’t recognize it. EVERY SINGLE time I go to watch a video it says my internet connection is too slow to begin instant playback. So I did some checking and began running those connection speed tests, my results are more than enough to stream without interruption. I can watch streaming video on other websites just fine, so why not on Netflix? Have they outdone themselves and aren’t able to keep up with the amount of users? If so, they need to do something about it quick because getting hit or miss results with their watch instantly playback is bordering on ridiculous.
Gabe // February 25, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I live in the greater LA area and have the fastest available internet connection. I spend countless hours downloading, watching tv, gaming, etc at multiple portals throughout the internet. As an engineer, I can promise you that my connection is as solid as they come.
Netflix does this to me everytime. It’s terrible. I have given up on the service, and am actually considering dropping Netflix altogether since watch instantly was the main reason I started paying in the first place.
It’s possible that there’s a priority list for customers that pay more (i.e. more movies out a month) and it’s also possible that their new Roku TV unit user receives priority as well.
Netflix, fix your servers, change the name of “Watch Instantly” to “Watch Eventually”, or start losing some serious customers and approval.
John // March 1, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Began using the watch instantly feature a year ago on the PC. Then we bought a Roku last autumn and enjoyed amazing resolution. They updated the software on the Roku a few weeks back claiming that we could now watch “HD” streams, but their connection speed has degenerated so badly that the movies are unwatchable on the Roku.
Roku uses 1-4 dots to indicate connection quality, with an “HD” showing for certain features. We used to get 4 dots (the best) every time. Now we’re lucky to get 2 dots. Watching Roku with only 2 dots is like watching TV through one of those glass-block walls. It’s horrible.
We are very close to canceling our Netflix service.