We all have faced the problem of slow internet speed despite opting for a high-speed internet plan. There can be various reasons for a slow internet speed. One common reason is ISP Throttling, especially in Broadband connections. Though weak signals can be the reason for a slow internet connection on your mobile handset, throttling is just as common.
Before we move forward and get to ‘How to stop or prevent ISP throttling?’, let’s first understand a few basics about ISP Throttling.
Meaning of ISP Throttling:
ISP throttling, otherwise known as just Throttling, is the intentional slowing down of the internet speed by your ISP (Internet Service Provider). There can be many reasons for ISP throttling, some legal and valid, some a bit sneaky.
The popular reasons for ISP throttling are:
- Data Cap: Most internet service providers put a cap on your daily or monthly usage limit. Once you have exhausted your daily/monthly data limit, throttling kicks in to stop you from using any more high-speed internet.
- Peak Time: Peak time is when there is too much load on a single signal tower to provide high speed connection to too many consumers. In this scenario, to provide everyone a fair share of what they deserve, Internet service providers throttle the speed of Internet connection.
- Power User: Many Internet Service Providers, though promise unlimited high-speed internet, they don’t like users downloading too much content online. Hence, they throttle your internet connection to slow down your internet speed.
There can be a few other sneaky reasons for ISP Throttling. Let’s now move forward and learn ‘How to know if your internet connection is being throttled by your ISP?’
How to know if your ISP is being throttled?
Just knowing ‘what ISP throttling is’ isn’t enough. We also should be aware if our internet is being throttled by our Internet Service Provider. There aren’t many ways in which you can determine if your ISP is being throttled.
A user can run a free speed test on Google and if the internet speed is substantially lower than what you have chosen for, your ISP is probably being throttled. However, Internet service providers can track your online activity and hence, can mold the result of speed tests to make you believe that you are being offered the speed you have been promised. Therefore, this technique is useless in most cases.
However, another profound way to know about the ISP throttling is using a VPN. VPNs are designed to mask and encrypt your online activity to make them undetectable by hackers and everyone else. Although not all VPNs are capable enough to mask the activities of the user from ISP, a strong VPN can help.
Steps to detect ISP Throttling:
Step 1: Download a reputable and strong VPN on your device.
Step 2: Run a speed test on your device with VPN turned off.
Step 3: Note the results of the speed test.
Step 4: Turn the VPN on.
Step 5: Run the speed test again.
Step 6: Compare the results of both the speed tests.
If Internet speed without using a VPN is significantly less than the Internet speed with VPN, you can be sure that your Internet speed is being throttled. Now that we know that our Internet Speed is being throttled, let’s move forward and look at ‘How to stop ISP Throttling?’.
How to Stop ISP Throttling:
In order to stop ISP throttling, one has to hide the activities and data usage from the ISP itself which in fact isn’t possible in all cases.
Data Cap:
If you have a data plan that allows usage only up to a certain limit, there isn’t any technique that you can fool your ISP and use more data than allowed. The only way here is the obvious, get a better plan.
Sneaky Internet Service Provider:
If your ISP is infamous for being the sneaky throttler and downsizes the internet speed in general, then you should be looking for a better ISP.
But this isn’t just all, many times you do have the option to stop ISP throttling without changing your ISP.
Platform Specific Throttling:
To explain a bit further, internet service providers, in general, do not throttle the internet speed for all the activities. ISP throttling is rather based on activities most of the time. For example, an ISP may decide to throttle the internet speed for Netflix platform specifically for a Netflix power user and not for every other website or platform. Though this isn’t pervasive, it is the most common practice of all.
In such cases a VPN provides a wonderful solution. By using a strong and effective VPN, you can stop ISP Throttling.
How does a VPN stop ISP Throttling?
A VPN is aimed at encrypting and hiding user information such as IP addresses to promote anonymous web browsing. Although fooling your ISP isn’t an easy task, many admirable VPNs hold the capability to do so.
When an ISP fails to detect the platform where the data is being used by the user, ISP throttling isn’t an option at all.
There are many VPNs available in the market but not all of them hold the same capability and functionality. Hence, we suggest Systweak VPN.
Download Now Systweak VPN
Systweak VPN:
Systweak VPN is one of the most popular options available in the market offering the capability to stop ISP throttling. Let’s look at some of its outstanding features:
- Stopping ISP Throttling: Systweak VPN is one of those few VPNs that can help you stop ISP throttling and provide a fast internet speed.
- Number of Servers: Systweak VPN offers more than 4500 servers around the globe to provide blazing fast speed while binge watching your favorite show online.
- Global Content Access: Systweak VPN offers Global Content Access to let you watch restricted websites and platforms worldwide.
- AES 256-bit Encryption: Systweak VPN employs AES 256-bit encryption standards to safeguard user’s personal data and privacy for anonymous web browsing.
So, this was our explanation on ISP throttling and how to stop it from slowing your internet connection down. Do let’s know how you did like the post, we love hearing from you.
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