Netflix was shocked by what appeared to be thousands of viewers after the first four episodes of Stranger Things season 5 went live. DownDesec began receiving an unusual number of outage reports 10 minutes before 8pm Eastern time, when the episodes were scheduled to hit the service. The numbers rose to 14,000 before dropping over the next few minutes.
In accordance with Entertainment WeeklyAffected viewers were getting the NSEZ-403 error, meaning their accounts could not connect to Netflix. They would see “Something went wrong” and “Sorry, we have a problem with your request” on their screens. For the NSEZ-403 error, in particular, Netflix advises switching to a different device. It doesn’t help that the show’s creator has previously said that Netflix is increasing its bandwidth by 30 percent to avoid the Prime Minister’s annual disaster. The company told Engadget that some members briefly experienced the issue being broadcast on TVs, but that service was restored for all accounts within 5 minutes.
In season 5 of Things to note, The hawkins team is set to face vecna one last time. After these first four episodes, Netflix drops widely on December 25 and then the Finale itself on December 31.
Renewal, Nov. 26, 2025, 10:56 PM ET: This story and its headline have been updated to include information Netflix shared with Engadget.
