Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown - New Home Fee

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/07/netfl…

From the article

Starting August 22, customers who sign in outside their home "will see the option to add the extra home for an additional fee per month" or use the two-week grace period, Netflix said. Earlier today, the Netflix FAQ included a sentence that said after the two-week grace period, "the TV will be blocked unless you add the extra home,"

The extra member fee of about $2 to $3 per month was implemented in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, with Netflix saying it would evaluate the rollout before making changes in other countries.

Argentina is next.

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Comments

  • +192

    But what if I'm never at home at my house in Turkiye?

    • Initially it's grouping Houses via Device\IP and Location, with the interface allowing you to select which location is your home. They have some smarts to deal with IP changes.. They ofcourse don't publish the logic, but no risk of a device being used in the home allowed to access content abroad.
      I have not seen any talk to say, limiting an India\Turkiye account home to align with the country of the account.
      They have the data to this, so would make sense if this is in the pipeline.

      • What about people who always browse and watch Netflix with a VPN?

        • Not something I can answer, their policies keep evolving, they are desperate to increase profits, but so far their actions are reducing subscriber numbers.
          Netflix regularly do the "token" block known VPN IP ranges, yes they could go more aggressive.

  • +150

    I pay for the 4K 4-screen option. I live by myself but share the sub with my parents. At most, I only ever have 2 of my 4 paid screens running at once. If Netflix think this is me being greedy then they can shove their subscription up their jumper.

    • +3

      It's going to be tough, but I share the same thought as you. And then I will run on trials if possible.

      • +26

        Yeah no.

      • +13

        Netflix are already being paid to provide the service to their parents. Now you're saying it's OK to charge more?

        Netflix's model is getting more and more broken. I've dropped a couple of streaming services because I was paying for too many and Netflix has always been the "last to go" option. That's changed. I might pick up the others again and drop Netflix.

        • +7

          Arrrrr.

      • +23

        ** I mean ask your parents for an extra 36 dollars a year for Netflix**

        WTF?

        "Ma, pa, thanks for bringing me up, the whole housing and feeding me… I really appreciate it. Unrelated, I'm gonna need 3 bucks a month from you for Netflix going forward. Don't worry about this month though, I've got you covered."

        • +6

          don't forget the administration fee for your trouble

          • @Mr Haj: Pa: sure son, no worries at all. And that reminds me, can you also start paying back interest on the down payment money that I helped you with.

            Oouch!!

            • +1

              @ggbhai: And don't worry about the inheritance, its going to charity when I die.

    • Agree, will be interested if you get flagged. I am the same Kids use our Netflix account when they stay at the grandparents. Grandparents don't use Netflix, so even if they and us use the account that's 2 of 4.

      I know of numerous people (not myself) sharing friends accounts from India. Like 8+ people use the one account, they will be the focus of the crackdown. I see Netflix using some constraint.

    • Same. I’ll be cancelling my subscription if they add it here. I share with mum and dad, but I barely use it anymore.

  • +73

    that's rich. their service hasn't been worth the price it is now for years, they think people are willing to pay more? three quarters of the stuff i see on netflix is just filler crap, the quarter that isn't is stuff i've already seen.

    • +17

      The Gray Man cost them US$200 million. Someone has to pay for it I suppose.

      • +1

        is it any good? i was gonna watch it at some point but it just looks like a normal action movie

        • +7

          I loved it. It was very entertaining. Very good action sequences.

        • +6

          Intense if you like extended action sequences and pithy dialogue, which I do

        • +2

          Entertaining but really B grade dialogue

        • +4

          Good actors and action sequences but like most Netflix originals, it has no depth. I would have much preferred more exploration of the characters and storyline but that was obviously dropped in favour of shoot outs and explosions. Why pay actors all this money if you are not going to give them the opportunity to show thier range?

      • +4

        insanely good movie production values but ho-humm story and plot line ~ nothing original, I could see where they nicked from 007/J.Bourne/J.Wick

      • How many hundreds of million subscribers worldwide? Their cashflow is 10x that per month

        • +2

          220 million by their own reports, but a forced external audit meant they had to cull all the inflated numbers and admit to the rampant loss of customers over the last 12 months. As such they are about to announce the factual numbers, which is around 150mil now according to leaked internal memo's, with subscriber numbers plummeting by about 1.5 million - 2 million a month currently.

    • +5

      Still seems quite cheap to me. $11 for all you can watch in a month. Good for a budget airline trip. Wouldn't buy more than 1 month a year though.

    • +4

      I actually find myself using Netflix more than Disney+ or Amazon, Netflix just has a more steady stream of content for me (even if I ignore half of it which actually is garbage).

      • +12

        i get it for free (family members account) and i still can't find the value in it. i can spend over an hour looking for something to watch, but give up eventually because i just can't find anything that looks good that i haven't seen.

        it used to be more convenient than pirating, which is why i only used to pirate the most recent releases and other stuff that wasn't available on netflix, but these days pirating has become just as convenient as netflix, with a far better catalogue.

        • +1

          If Netflix went away, I'd probably be watching alot less TV (even though I'm only watching about 4 or 5 hours a week at the most), towards the end of the year is looking to be a banger with a new season of Lock and Key and Cobra Kai, I'm also looking forward to a new season of the Mandalorian on Disney (Obi-Wan and Bobba Fett have been pretty disappointing, and I'm only a casual Marvel fan so I've only seen half the shows/most of the movies).

          • +2

            @Ultimate Gattai:

            I'm only a casual Marvel fan so I've only seen half the shows

            Don't worry, if you have seen one you have seen most. I find them much less watchable since they left Netflix

        • especially when you combine with plex soake ypur own catalogue no need to download it just streaming from everywhere

    • +1

      That's just not true… I download new Netflix shows from thepiratebay all the time! ;-D

    • +3

      Agree, 4k is now standard with the others, Disney, Prime ect… 4k should be offered under the standard plan.

      • +2

        it's not even proper 4k, any dark scene will show you how low the bit rate is

        • IMAX content on Disney Plus looks surprisingly good.

          • @UltimateAI: i was referring to netflix, i don't have disney

            • @[Deactivated]: I know but you were saying how bad the quality is on Netflix. I was just pointing out that some services do a good job.
              IMAX on Disney is not widescreen, it's full screen so you seen even more content than the movies. Movies houses have and are complaining about it.

        • +2

          If you want a low bitrate 1080p 8bit experience try Binge. The macro blocking has to be seen to be believed

          • @mctubster: Not surprised, all experiences with binge have been awful.

      • 4k is not standard lol, you are living in a delusional entitled bubble if you think everyone is rocking 4k devices.

  • +19

    Prime Video is enough for me. No time as parents to watch craps anyway.

    • +3

      Shame because there is LOTS of garbage on Amazon prime. Some bangers too tho. The expense, Hanna, reacher, jack Ryan, The boys was good the first two seasons. Decent Australian stand up and movies too.

      • I just end up going back to Netflix, I started the Expanse but I'm finding it hard to keep watching since the show hasn't griped me in the first couple of episodes.

        • Same, I've tried multiple times to get into The Expanse because of the glowing reviews. I've persevered into maybe 5 episodes and even rewatched the first couple episodes a couple of times but I dont rate it. I think the dialogue is a little soft on some characters so I feel I am not understanding it.

          • @Brick Tamland: There were dialogue problems in season 1, but it improves

            • @Stzaa83: OK I am almost relieved to hear that because I started thinking I was stupid for struggling with it.

    • I agree. However recently there's the spiderman stuff along with 007 movies…. So make time for yourself

  • +22

    Netflix is a dumpster fire of a service. Now you won't even be able to watch Netflix at work or on your phone during a train commute without paying a fee. Sad.

    • +2

      No they'll only be able to police the home policy on TV devices. One device they'll never be able to police is a cast only Chromecast (not google tv).

      • So all your friends need to do to share your subscription is get a HDMI adapter for their iPad, or plug their PC into the TV or whatever?

        • those are probably possible too but the very reason a Chromecast was made was so that people never have to do the things that you've said.

          • @vinnychase: So the Netflix app on Chromecast and Apple TV will block sharing, but casting the Netflix app on your phone to those same devices will still work?

            • @AustriaBargain: You can’t cast to Apple TV as Netflix doesn’t support airplay. The Chromecasting work-around will not work on devices running android tv as Netflix knows that those devices are capable of running the full app so it will force you to install the app.

              • @vinnychase: I highly doubt they can interrogate the Chromecast to identify the device it is plugged into.

                All they will see is the Chromecast device information.

      • +1

        One device they'll never be able to police is a cast only Chromecast (not google tv).

        Doubt it. When you cast to a Chromecast you don't send the data directly from your phone to the chromecast, you're actually using your router as a middleman to communicate between the two. If Netflix sees a chromecast is viewing, it's pretty clear you're not watching on a commute.

        Try it, turn off your home internet and try cast something.

        • +2

          Yes I know that but that’s not the idea. The idea is that Netflix’s methodology of blocking new homes is to block TV apps on a different ip address from streaming as that’s a different household to them. They’re able to block TV apps because you Need to LOGIN specifically on those devices and when you play something they can just stop you on the spot by displaying an error message like ‘Hey! This isn’t your home’. But on chrome cast devices where you just login in on the google home app and then can ask google assistant to play stranger things on toilet tv. They can’t really say oh cant play because new home detected cause all they’re doing is supplying the stream after authenticating user.

          • +3

            @vinnychase: I’ve been able to use this method for Foxtel now.
            The standard process for foxtel is that it allows 5 devices to be logged in at 1 time.
            But if you login in google home app that counts as 1 login. But from there you can say play on toilet tv. Play on shower tv. Play on closet tv. Play on garden tv. Play on side fence tv. They can’t police it.

            • -3

              @vinnychase: By the way, you realise the 5 device limit is for simultaneous streams, right? You're not tricking anyone if you play on more than 5 devices, just at different times…

              • +3

                @jetblack: Nope, 5 device limit for foxtel is of logged in devices. The stream limit is 2 simultaneously.

                • @vinnychase: That makes more sense in regards to your workaround to use more than 5 devices in a more practical way.

                  When you do what you are doing, netflix/foxtel are like 'yep, he has a valid account. Cast away, my friend!'. Your chromecast is still pulling the stream via your home router, and this your regular IP address.

                  If you share your password and your friend does the same thing as you, their chromecast also pulls the stream via their own router/IP. Now Netflix can see you're accessing from multiple places, and clearly not commuting.

            • @vinnychase: But what about when I need to turn it on at my fridge TV?

          • @vinnychase: I'd say you're being optimistic at best. Netflix does consider the IP address of the consuming device (chromecast), irrespective of the device you used to initiate the playing (eg phone).

            Tricking them into playing on 5 devices in your house via Google Home isn't much to do with IP logging at all.

          • @vinnychase: What do you eat ? Must be quite a lot of food to have a tv with Netflix in your toilet or toilet room. Or do you find it easier to watch a scary show to make you go to the toilet ? Personally I just eat more fibre and drink more water but each to their own.

            • @Wt133: Can confirm, once I started eating more fibre I had much more time to watch my side fence tv

            • @Wt133: NutriGrain

            • @Wt133: Toilet tv, I can understand.. it's a pretty common use case these days. I don't have one, but my tablet is my friend in there until my legs get numb. But what the hell is a closet tv? What do u do inside a closet that requires a tv in there?

      • Could you explain this difference a bit more? And is a Vodafone TV affected?

    • Airplane mode.

  • +31

    Why must Netflix be a home only service? If you pay for subscription you should be able to use anywhere. Phone or tablet at work, GF place, on holidays overseas if you get stuck. I get it, they need to make money and sharing is eating into their bottom line

    • +26

      Why must Netflix be a home only service? If you pay for subscription you should be able to use anywhere

      You pay for up to x amount of screens being able to watch at once. So if I pay for 4, why does it matter if 4 of them are in one location or 4 different locations?

      Why must Netflix be a home only service? If you pay for subscription you should be able to use anywhere

      Netflix 'thinks' people love the service enough to pay more etc, but netflix might just find that people don't love it enough and will drop it all together when all those splitting the cost don't want to pay extra.

      • +8

        It's getting cancelled the instant they implement this here.

        None of the people sharing will pick the service up themselves. My Jellyfin server will just get a bigger workout.

    • +2

      Yep. I quite often log in to my Netflix account when staying in hotels/Air B&Bs if the app is on the TV there. Apparently I am no longer allowed to do this because reasons.

      • Don't think so, their system is expedited to flag excessive use, not an occasion login at a different ip\location\device.
        I take my Amazon Fire 4k Max dongle when I travel, so hopefully their system has some flexibility.
        I guess don't panic, but if it turns out like you state, I will be joining you.

  • +13

    laughs in Turkish accent

    Don't most use turkey based accounts?

    • +11

      Yes yes. You can find me at 15 Turkey Road, Turkey

      • +4

        Hello neighbour, I'm at 14 Turkey Road, Turkey. Feel free to call me at 1800Turkey. Oops I've to go out and get some Turkish ice-cream. See ya later.

  • how do they know what your "home" is? i only use optus 4g with no static ip. i imagine i could use it anywhere in australia without issue. from a different country would probably be an issue

    not that i subscribe to netflix. i've got a free trial of amazon prime video and not much on that appeals to me.

    • Netflix said it detects extra homes using "information such as IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity."

      So the device ID can't be changed, not easily by the average person. And if one device is watching only soap operas and another device only watching superhero movies, then that "account activity" might tip Netflix off that it's two different users.

      • +1

        That's easy to be the same home though.

      • I doubt it will be anywhere near that sophisticated.

        If the app is installed on a TV, it will report back to Netflix and you will be limited by the IP address.

        I'm sure the easy workaround will be to mirror cast off your phone or tablet.

        • They will not do it solely by IP address. Very few residential internet services have static IP addresses.

          • +1

            @banana365: Not soley by ip address, by unique device id, and type of device.

            If two TVs on your account use the service concurrently with different IPs, you get flagged

    • +1

      try bosch it was pretty good, dont bother about the spin off its a bit meh

    • +1

      amazon prime video and not much on that appeals to me

      I suggest checking out: Bosch, The Boys, The Expanse, Jack Reacher, Jack Ryan, The Man in the High Castle, The Underground Railroad.

      • I'll also suggest Invincible, yea I know it's only a cartoon but man it hits hard.

  • -4

    I don't get how Netflix has ever been worth it. I don't watch TV shows maybe that's why but I only recall about 3 to 4 "Netflix exclusive" films a year that I thought I would like to watch, which you could manage to watch for free with their yearly Free Trial.
    I think they pulled this yearly Free trial away so I don't bother anymore.

    Regarding TV shows, I tried to watch about 3 which I thought I would be interested in. Always a disappointing experience.
    I read somewhere that all these high budget TV shows were created for the smartphone generation. Meaning the slow storyline progress to keep your interest while using a smartphone as a second source of distraction is all intended. If you were on your phone for 90% of an episode, someone else can easily explain to you what happened in 10 seconds and you would not miss a beat. Seems to line up with what my general thought was after trying to watch some of these new TV shows.

    They were all extremely slow for the story line to progress, and they always have that "something that happens in Episode 9, which explains something in Episode 3" which encourages the audience to "keep watching every episode". And even after finishing the last season there isn't much in terms of a conclusion or climax. It always keeps the slow pace, I guess to keep viewers hooked that there might be more.
    It's not for me I don't get the hype surrounding all these recent TV shows.

    • +5

      I suppose it's horses for courses. In my household, there is Netflix, Prime, and Disney+ (only when there's something to watch). Prime is only there because it's a bonus. I'm a prime sub anyway.

      I can say that I never watch any of them. However, the rest of the family does and it's been in use all the time. Because continuing prime access isn't predicated on the streaming experience, I don't really care. Disney+ is the one that doesn't get used all that often and is also the reason we only buy a month's worth when there's something on. The Netflix account is in use pretty much most of the month. So in that case, I'm happy to keep paying for it. When I start seeing that it's no longer getting used as often as it is now, then I will switch to the same thing we do for Disney+. Until then, it can stay.

      • +2

        Yeah I am not a "Yearly" Prime subscriber. Since I only subscribe maybe 4 or 5 months out of a year I save around 50% compared to yearly price.
        While the Film selection is not exactly great, I definitely get my value out of $6.99 month for the Free fast deliveries and occasional few Movies streamed. Amazon Exclusive's are OK as well, not terrible.

        For grown ups and Films exclusively, I think Stan has the best selection for me and gets the most months out of a year. Another bonus is the price of subscribing through "Apple" is the same as paying directly through CC, at least for the lowest tier. This way I get to use the Apple Giftcard credit that I get through Flybuys with bonus points (10% return better than nothing with Apple).
        I think Disney+ is also the same in this regard, same price whether paying directly or through Apple. I subscribed to a month recently just to watch a bunch of new releases they recently released.

    • +2

      I don't get how Netflix has ever been worth it. I don't watch TV shows maybe that's why but I only recall about 3 to 4 "Netflix exclusive" films a year that I thought I would like to watch, which you could manage to watch for free with their yearly Free Trial.
      I think they pulled this yearly Free trial away so I don't bother anymore.

      it used to be worth it, when i had my own subscription 6 or so years ago there was plenty to watch on there, but as each year goes by, netflix loses more and more of their catalogue.

      Regarding TV shows, I tried to watch about 3 which I thought I would be interested in. Always a disappointing experience.
      I read somewhere that all these high budget TV shows were created for the smartphone generation. Meaning the slow storyline progress to keep your interest while using a smartphone as a second source of distraction is all intended. If you were on your phone for 90% of an episode, someone else can easily explain to you what happened in 10 seconds and you would not miss a beat. Seems to line up with what my general thought was after trying to watch some of these new TV shows.

      it definitely feels like the new shows are aimed at the lowest common denominator, all their good shows are the older ones, stuff like house of cards (yeah..), mindhunter (on indefinite hold), kingdom (not that old, but still good and still waiting on season 3), marco polo (cancelled for some ungodly reason), actually, come to think of it, their good originals are few and far between.

      They were all extremely slow for the story line to progress, and they always have that "something that happens in Episode 9, which explains something in Episode 3" which encourages the audience to "keep watching every episode". And even after finishing the last season there isn't much in terms of a conclusion or climax. It always keeps the slow pace, I guess to keep viewers hooked that there might be more.

      this, and the fact that the cancel anything that isn't aimed at the lowest common denominator, is the reason why i don't bother with netflix original tv shows any more. if it's good, it's gonna get cancelled after 1 - 2 seasons (which will end on a cliffhanger), or it's just gonna be bad and not worth watching.

      • +2

        Here is my conclusion, after investing what 60 hours? for watching those TV shows with complete X seasons you get less storyline progress and worse skillful storytelling/screenplay than a 2 hour long film you are interested in. Which bugs the hell out of me and makes it actually tedious to watch TV shows due to this reason.

        And this is my opinion after binge watching these, I tried at least 3 episodes per sitting to try help to condense it. If I watched them spread out I would probably understand it even less and feel like even more time was wasted.

        I appreciate you giving me a few recommendations but I think even after finishing watching those I will likely still keep the same opinion.
        And apologies but I will likely not find the time to actually watch them, give me a decent film anyday.

      • +1

        stuff like house of cards (yeah..),

        Which would have to be superlative rather than just "pretty good" if it were to match the original 1990 BBC production which was shown FTA.

        • house of cards 1 - 5 was an excellent show, haven't bothered with season 6 because it didn't have kevin spacey in it (because of all the controversy he got fired).

          i haven't seen the original, but i would be willing to bet seasons 1 to 5 match it, if not exceed it, in terms of quality.

          • +1

            @[Deactivated]: I've seen both. The yank version is a pretty good show, true, but the pommy version is better - powerful, moving and full of intrigue like the US version, but also blackly funny in a way the US version can't quite manage (Americans don't do irony). Kevin Spacey did an OK job as Frank Underwood but Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart is a much more memorable character.

            Of course Netflix only has the yank version. Worth getting elsewhere if you can.

  • Good thing I have Mexican Netflix through my PC that's connected to my TV.

  • +12

    oh how the mighty have fallen, making subpar shows while at the same time not renewing actual good content.

    you will be remembered like blockbuster.

  • +24

    *laughs in Plex*

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