Netflix learned how to stream good video on bad connections

This morning, a gaggle of journalists and I huddled around a table full of smartphones, watching a clip from Netflix's Stranger Things. There was plenty of grain and blockiness to be sure, but it was sufficiently -- even perfectly -- watchable. The kicker: That surprisingly decent video is what Netflix told us to expect on a 100 kilobit/second data connection. That's a fraction of a fraction the LTE speeds we're used to in the US, but all too common in other parts of the world. Netflix considers itself a global television service, and since its international launch last year, it has seen countries new to the service lean on smartphones and tablets for their streaming video fixes.