'House of Cards' didn't exactly break the Internet last week, but it certainly gave it a bruising.
《纸牌屋》(House of Cards)上周没有搞垮互联网，但肯定给它划了道口子。
Many fans of the award-winning Netflix series couldn't wait to finish the show's new season and binged on the political drama for hours last weekend after videos went live Valentine's Day. But there's one thing they didn't see amid all the intrigue onscreen: the equally tense drama behind it.
上周末，这部由Netflix Inc.出品、荣获多项大奖的政治剧情片在情人节当天网上直播，众多粉丝迫不及待地想把新一季刷完，连续数小时在线收看这部剧集。然而在他们欣赏这部权谋大戏的时候却没有看到，屏幕后面也在上演着同样紧张激烈的“剧情”。
The Internet is a huge and complex system, yet the way online video reaches us is still pretty straightforward. Viewers request a show from a server the size of a mini fridge, setting in motion a stream of data that flows through a variety of Internet service providers to their living rooms. Each of those service providers provisions a fixed amount of bandwidth to handle all that video.
互联网是一个大而杂的系统，不过我们获取在线视频的方式却很简单。你只需向一个迷你冰箱大小的服务器发出播放请求，数据流就会通过多样的互联网服务供应商进入你的起居室中。每家服务供应商都需要保持一定带宽来传输这些视频。
A simmering dispute between Netflix Internet provider Cogent and broadband carrier Verizon has revealed what happens when that bandwidth is in short supply. A wide swath of Internet users suffer slow speeds.
而Netflix的互联网供应商Cogent Communications Group Inc.与宽带运营商Verizon Communications Inc.之间的激烈争执揭示了带宽供应不足的后果：使一大批互联网用户的网速变慢。
Cogent and Verizon are handling massive and growing amounts of data, but their links to each other have remained around the same size, according to Cogent chief Dave Schaeffer. The company shared the following charts, which aggregate the traffic flowing through Cogent's 'peering' ports--the joints where its pipes hook up to those operated by Internet service providers.
Cogent首席执行长谢弗(Dave Schaeffer)说，Cogent和Verizon正在处理庞大且不断增长的数据，但两家公司之间的链接量却基本保持不变。Cogent提供了两张图表，对通过其“互联”端口的数据流量进行了合计，这些端口的管道和互联网服务供应商的管道相连。
Here's the flow with Verizon:
下图是Cogent与Verizon之间的流量：
And here it is with Comcast:
下图是Cogent与康卡斯特(Comcast Co.)之间的流量：
As you can see, Cogent's outbound flows to Comcast and Verizon ran at full capacity for as much as 12 hours a day over the weekend--the same time viewers were likely following Frank Underwood's machinations.
如上所示，上周末Cogent每天长达12小时满负荷地向康卡斯特和Verizon输出数据，这个时间段很可能是观众欣赏安德伍德(Frank Underwood)大作的时间。
That traffic outbound from Cogent into Verizon pushed the links to limit of what both companies' network equipment is designed to handle -- the flatlines at the top of the graphs. Inbound flows--the section in green--zipped through well below capacity. That basically illustrates the arguments made by companies like Verizon and Comcast, that Cogent/Netflix's traffic flows are extremely one-sided.
图表上端平直的曲线说明，Cogent传输至Verizon的数据量达到了两家公司网络设备工作量的极限。但流入Cogent的数据量（绿色部份）却远小于极限值。这大体说明了Verizon和康卡斯特这类公司的看法：Cogent/Netflix的数据流极不平衡。
Middlemen like Cogent complain that broadband providers aren't upgrading their existing connections fast enough to handle the onslaught of traffic. But broadband providers argue that if any network dumps more traffic onto their pipes than what they send back, the network needs to pay.
像Cogent这样的中间商抱怨宽带供应商没有尽快升级系统以应对数据量的暴增，但宽带供应商反驳说，如果哪家网络运营商输出的数据量超过了它们接收的数据量，那就该为此买单。
Companies have no legal obligation to make those upgrades, said Patrick Gilmore, chief technology officer for the Internet hub operator Markley Group. 'They're a private company, and they can do what they want,' he said.
互联网中心运营商Markley Group首席技术长吉尔摩(Patrick Gilmore)说，公司没有法律义务进行升级；它们是私人公司，可以照自己的想法行事。
Networks with a dispute about how to share traffic often reach a standstill until they come up with an agreement both can live with. Disorganization is also often to blame. Large telecom companies have dozens of links to worry about upgrading. It often takes months for a network engineer to get around to responding to a new connection request, even if the added traffic lane would ease congestion for both sides.
这种流量分担不均造成的纠纷往往会僵持不下，直到双方达成让彼此都能接受的协议为止。链接的分散无序也是导致这一问题的原因。大型电信公司通常有数十条链接，升级起来很麻烦。即使新增加一条数据管道对双方而言都有助于缓解拥堵，但互联网工程师也经常要等上几个月的时间才有空处理增加链接的请求。
Some smaller websites complain of being caught in the crossfire. Rusty Hodge, general manager of the San Francisco-based streaming radio site SomaFM, said his service was 'unusable' to many East Coast listeners last week because of the congestion.
一些小网站抱怨说，自己成了大公司争执不休的受害者。旧金山在线电台SomaFM的总经理霍奇(Rusty Hodge)说，上周美国东部地区许多听众因为数据阻塞而无法使用他的服务。
The music site relies on donations from listeners who aren't likely to pay if the audio stream keeps dropping out, so Mr. Hodge plans to find a new route to reach his frustrated users and expects to pay more to do so.
这家音乐网站的资金来自用户的捐款，如果音频流总是断开的话，用户就不大可能掏钱，因此霍奇准备找一条新的路径为用户提供服务，为此估计会付更多的钱。