Three weeks ago we asked if Virgin Media customers had encountered streaming issues within Netflix. Listeners to the Pat Kenny Show replied in their droves and we investigated the issue.

Looking at Netflix’s Internet Service Provider Index illustrated the issue for all to see. As of January 2016, Virgin Media’s ranking with the index had slid from fourth to sixth place.

We approached Virgin Media and the following statement was issued:

“Virgin Media’s network is operating entirely as normal, with plenty of capacity available to deliver to customers the quality of service that they expect and deserve.

We are aware of Netflix having issues delivering their content into Europe and are working with them to resolve matters as quickly as we can. It’s not a problem we can resolve by ourselves.

If some customers are experiencing problems,  this is definitely not a widespread issue. Indicatively, there are no problems arising for other services on the Virgin Media platform.”

This didn’t seem to tally with what we were hearing from our listeners and readers, so we reached out to Netflix to see the lay of the land from their point of view. Netflix replied with the following:

“We work with ISPs everywhere, including Ireland. We are happy to work with ISPs to facilitate delivery of Netflix traffic in an easy and efficient manner benefiting joint customers.”

This was all as clear as mud. The only thing we knew for certain was that customers weren’t receiving the service they had paid for from either provider.

Questions were raised over the relationship between Virgin Media’s parent company Liberty Global and Netflix. Some were citing Liberty Global’s balance traffic ratio as the possible reason for the interference.

This week we received an update from Virgin Media:

“We’re aware that some customers had been experiencing issues when viewing Netflix, but the issue is now resolved. As mentioned previously, Virgin Media’s network is operating entirely as normal, with plenty of capacity available to deliver to customers the quality of service that they expect and deserve.

Netflix had been having some issues in delivering their content into Europe. Both Virgin Media and Netflix made some changes to the configuration of their networks to ensure that customers’ enjoyment of Netflix was not affected.”

So while we’re still not crystal clear as to the nature of the disruption, we can all breathe a sigh of relief in the knowledge that it has been resolved!