said by McBane:Saturated backbone = saturated peering ports
We'll agree to disagree. Verizon's backbone is NOT saturated. (Don't confuse backbone, with peering or metro last-mile.) They have huge long-haul capacity with plenty of overhead, but SOME of their peering desperately needs upgraded.
Further, they also have a simple drop-in solution (swap just the endpoint optics) to raise their remaining 40G long-haul to 100G as those links warrant.
Some of their peering links are absolutely congested, and that's mainly a result of rapid streaming growth. You would most likely see this even without the Quantum tiers, since streaming doesn't require anywhere near Quantum speeds. But when you have a million subscribers drawing 3+ Mbps streams, it adds up fast. They're trying to monetize it by forcing certain peers into paid-peering arrangements, and as a result their customers are suffering while they rattle sabres and posture themselves. SHAME on Verizon for that, ESPECIALLY when they continue raising prices.
But congestion isn't universal. I almost always get HD streams from Netflix any time of day or night, with fast buffering. Traceroute shows this region peers with Cogent in Miami. Apparently the Miami exchange doesn't (yet?) have a capacity problem. Other regions aren't so lucky.