impatientzero,
Like I said, netflix uses multiple different stream providers, and amazon and MANY others do also. Using a different stream will have different effects on performance as the destination server may be physically closer or on a better network for the route.
That being said I did not mean to make this sound as it was NOT a temp fix, but more to say I dont place 100% of the blame on AT&T. It is the destination that should determine which streams to point to. It may be they are all doing it because they are upset with AT&T or AT&T is doing something unfair to them and this is a great way to make AT&T look bad or blackmail them. Using another DNS causing the initial point to not be request by AT&T but be by google.
I just find it odd its mainly on AT&T. While yes they could do QOS or throttle the streams or something, this goes to show its not that otherwise you would all still have the problem. This leads to the problem being that the DNS server is not being given the most optimal server based on the query it makes. The only exception to this are a few things.
A. The DNS server is not releasing the cache or making a new query as often as it should and is stuck using a bad IP for the destination.
B. AT&T went out of their way to hard code dns names and IPs to force us to use specific streams/routes.
C. The destination pointer is not detecting the provider correct or choosing the best path based on the provider/source request.
Part C has much to do with who hosts the content. When you have multihomed/cloud/clustered servers spread around the net the connections should get load balance and done based on best possible routes. Its possible the providers are not setup to pick the best route for AT&T because the many different types of IPs AT&T has. Some brand as AT&T, some as SW Bell, some as SBC ect.. Some may have never updated things or simply upset with something AT&T is doing and this is a good way to cost them customers/money.
Nonless this is something that is outside our hands and MUST be corrected between AT&T and the provider unless AT&T happens to have some bad cache stuck on the DNS servers which would be odd even as they have many servers that the two IPs forward too.
Regardless I hopes its resolved soon as using outside net DNS servers can slow things down initially as that query takes longer to determine which IP the name should resolve to vs looking at something more local.
Regardless I recommend anyone with some spare time to lookup what DNS server means to get a better understanding. There are others that may be better for you than just google also, it all comes down to response time between you and that DNS server for how fast something is found, but as for loading or speeds its pure bandwidth (With the exception of one route bing bad vs another which DNS can play a role in.)
Hopefully this all gets resolved though. I still wish my pings to the rest of the world would be better. These test sites are not the best to test as many of them are on the peer backbones so of course they will have good pings a lot of the time, but the rest of the world has to go through them and than 1 or 2 other providers.
I still have issues with response time being a little high for FPS. 
but thats another issue.
Wow.
Yes - I was thinking about this, because I could've sworn that very early on someone (a customer) had tried to self-troubleshoot by switching to google DNS. perhaps that was you?
In any case, I remember it not actually doing very much then... although for now it suddenly "fixes" things. I wish I'd done it myself earlier, so I'd have more data to draw upon. For now, I'm much inclined to believe that it is #3. I don't see any company other than AT&T being interested in AT&T's troubles (esp. given the conflicts of interest present). It may even be at the end of all this it's Netflix screwing us over and AT&T being unable to do much about it.
Last night, I started getting wierd messages popping up during netflix play. every few minutes, a window (in xbox 360) would pop up saying that it can't connect to the netflix server. this is despite me already playing, and continuing to play, the video stream. I'd simply "cancel" and continue watching. But about 10 minutes later, it would pop up again. Is anyone else getting this?
flood99 wrote:What I still don't understand is how some people say the DNS has fixed Netflix when I've had google DNS for weeks on some devices. One of several things must have happened:
1. Either google changed their DNS which purposefully or inadvertently fixed Netflix streaming problem. I would be interested if other DNS servers also make Netflix work ok.
2. Netflix worked with 3rd party DNS services to fix the problem.
3. AT&T did something which purposefully or inadvertently fixed the problem.
4. My problem is different from everyone else and something has changed specific to me.
5. Netflix or other network between AT&T and Netflix changed something which purposefully or inadvertently fixed the problem.
6. Captain Hammer fixed it with his MIND.
ps: is #6 a reference to that Dr. Terrible musical short? if so, hah hah! 
