Internet service providers (ISPs) can throttle your internet connection to a slower speed than advertised. They also use a practice known as “shaping”, where throttling is applied selectively to traffic.
When your internet service provider deliberately curtails your internet speed or bandwidth without informing you, it is referred to as ISP throttling. But the question is why do ISPs throttle the internet.
Even there’s no internet throttling, you can benefit from VPN to hide IP address, bypass geo-blocking, visit web sources freely without heavy internet censorship, lock and protect your browsing history and personal information against surveillance and illegal actions from other parties like governments, advertising agencies, and hackers.
They also use a practice known as “shaping”, where throttling is applied selectively to traffic. So how do you know if you’re being throttled or shaped?
Simply put, bandwidth throttling is when an internet service provider (ISP) intentionally slows down the speed of its service. It does this by restricting the speed at which a bandwidth intensive device like a server can actually receive the data it's supposed to be processing.
Download and install the VPN on your device. Test the speed of your connection before you connect to the VPN. Connect to the VPNs server network and test again. Remember to use the nearest server for the best results. Compare the two speeds. If your connection is slower without a VPN, you're likely being throttled!
A data cap is a limit on a pre-agreed data allowance between an ISP and a network user, and data capping occurs when the transfer capacity of data over a given medium is limited.
Imagine that there are so many ISPs around the world, and considering their actual market shares and long-term expectations, each ISP must have a vast but still limited amount of bandwidth. It’s also possible for an ISP to sell out its bandwidth if it doesn’t work well as expected.
Many internet investigating agencies have done online behavior reports annually. And after searching, viewing and summing them up briefly, here some top online activities are shared for your reference.
While some people use the terms “throttling” and “shaping” interchangeably, they are distinct concepts.
Network bandwidth is a finite resource. So one of the main jobs an ISP has is making sure that everyone on the network has a good experience. When networks are quiet, such as at 3AM, the few users who need lots of bandwidth can get it. However, peak times such as when everyone is streaming video after dinner can put the network under pressure.
In most cases, you don’t actually have to do anything special to detect if you’re being shaped or not. That’s because you can use a VPN to circumvent most types of shaping. That is, unless VPN traffic itself is being shaped, but that’s unlikely to be the case.
When we’re talking about pure throttling, there’s sadly no quick fix. The only real solution is to change your internet plan after testing to see if you’re really being throttled. When you do, pay special attention to the terms and conditions and whether any soft caps or throttling policies are in place.
When you access the Internet, you do so via your Internet service provider (ISP). Of course, the ISP will (hopefully!) strive to give you the fastest speeds possible under your current plan. There are instances, however, where the ISP will deliberately slow down your Internet speeds.
With high speed Internet being at the forefront of entertainment, it doesn’t make sense as to why an ISP would deliberately make your connection slower. However, there are various reasons why an ISP would take this route.
If you want to see if you’re being throttled, it can be a little tricky. There used to be a great tool called Glasnost that helped, but that has unfortunately closed down. If you want to see if you’re being throttled, you can do some manual sleuthing to find out.
If you believe your ISP is throttling your Internet, double check the terms of service for your ISP. Try to find if your ISP defined any conditions where they are allowed to throttle your connection.
With all the talk of ISP throttling, it’s worth knowing what it is and why it’s done. Now you know the basic details as well as how to know if your connection is being throttled.