Netflix outage prevents streaming to some devices
The hours-long issue appeared to be affecting subscribers' ability to stream movies via Samsung devices.
Netflix experienced an issue tonight that prevented some devices from connecting to the company's servers to stream movies.
A Netflix help line recording told subscribers that the movie-rental service was aware of the issue and was working to resolve it.
"We are currently experiencing issues streaming movies on Netflix-ready devices, however you might be able to stream on your PC or Mac," the recording said. "We are working to resolve the problem."
Netflix media representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding which devices were impacted, but a customer service representative said the streaming issue appeared to have been affecting Samsung Blu-ray players for several hours and engineers were working to fix the problem.
A Netflix customer from Riverside, Calif., told CNET that he was watching a movie on a Samsung player when the movie suddenly stopped and that when he tried to restart the movie he couldn't reconnect with Netflix. The subscriber told CNET that the issue had been resolved just before this report was to publish.
Twitter users also expressed frustration with the streaming outage, noting that they expected more in the face of the company's recently announced subscription price increases.
"netflix you really shouldn't constantly have website issues for those of us who stream... esp. with your new price hike," said GingerLemonGirl, an apparent Netflix subscriber in North Carolina.
The issue arises just days after an hours-long outage affected the movie-rental service earlier this week and on the heels of Netflix's announcement last week of new pricing plans designed to push people away from mail-order DVDs and toward its streaming options. The company's increase in monthly subscription rates on its DVD and DVD/streaming plans was met with a swarm of online complaints from irate customers.
Update at 7:35 a.m. PT July 21: Neither Netflix's Facebook or Twitter pages noted any outage, though the latter did initially respond to a customer who reported the issue. However, Downrightnow.com, which monitors the status of sites, showed an overnight disruption in Netflix service.
