One of the things that is happening to users all over the world is ISP Throttling, where the Internet Service Provider throttles the internet bandwidth or limits the bandwidth, which results in the user getting less bandwidth than what they are paying for. The Internet Service Provider intentionally slows down your connection for certain websites or services, such as downloading, P2P traffic, or streaming. In such cases, users suffer and get much less bandwidth and speed than what they actually signed up for.
There can be several reasons why an ISP might throttle internet traffic, including:
Data Usage Policies: After a customer consumes a certain amount of data, the ISP may reduce the connection speed to prevent the customer from exceeding the data limits. This usually happens when you have an internet plan with limited bandwidth.
Network Congestion: ISPs have a finite network capacity, and during busy periods, their networks can become congested due to multiple customers using the service at the same time. This can cause symptoms of throttling such as slower speeds, higher latency, and packet loss, without the ISP being intentionally involved in it.
Traffic Management: Some ISPs use traffic management policies to control how different network resources are allocated. With this, different types of traffic may receive different treatment during periods of heavy internet demand.
To find out if your internet speed is being throttled by your ISP, here are some things that you should try out. Make sure that you eliminate all common local causes of low internet speeds, such as network congestion, weak WiFi, an old router, server-side problems, local network congestion, DNS issues, or a faulty cable, before concluding that your ISP is responsible.
Perform a Speed Test
The first thing that you should do is to perform a speed test of your internet connection to find out what speeds you are actually getting. To get the best results, perform the speed test on a PC that is connected directly through an Ethernet Cable and make sure that nothing is being downloaded.
If you get speeds in a close range to what you’re paying for, then you may proceed to the next step. For instance, if you signed up for 10 Mbps and are getting around 8-9 Mbps, then it is completely fine, but anything below that, you should contact your ISP.
Also, perform speed tests during different periods, such as morning, afternoon, evening, and late night. For example, if you are consistently getting 10 Mbps late at night but only 3-4 Mbps during peak evening hours, it strongly suggests a time-related network-performance issue.
Run Speed Test on Multiple Devices
You should run the speed test on multiple devices before concluding anything. If only one device, such as a laptop or phone, is experiencing slow internet, the problem may involve that device, its network adapter, software, VPN, browser, or background applications, and not the internet connection.
If several devices are experiencing the same slowdown while connected to the same network, the problem is more likely to involve the router or the ISP.
Use a VPN
ISPs are very clever and can catch up when the user is performing a speed test. When you do so, your ISP removes the bandwidth limit, and you get the actual speeds on the Speed Test, but a VPN can help you to find out if your Internet Speed is really being throttled or not.
Perform the same speed test without a VPN and then repeat the test while connected to a reliable VPN server. If performance changes substantially, record the difference. Always prefer using a good VPN service, as some VPN can also result in a sloppy internet connection.
Sometimes, a bad internet connection may not be due to throttling but other factors, such as too many connections in your area or you using the Internet during rush hours when a lot of users in your area are also using the Internet. Such factors can also lead to having slow internet speeds.
Check Your ISP’s Terms and Usage Policies
Your ISP’s documentation may provide some of the strongest evidence regarding throttling. You should check the usage policy of the ISP on their website and look for information regarding:
- Data caps
- Fair-use policies
- Speed-reduction thresholds
- Traffic management
- Peak-hour policies
- Plan-specific restrictions
- Unlimited-plan conditions
If your provider explicitly states that speeds can be reduced after exceeding a particular amount of data usage, during peak hours, or with a specific type of traffic, a slowdown after reaching that threshold may be an expected feature of the internet plan.
What to Do If You Suspect ISP Throttling?
If you suspect ISP throttling, contact your ISP. Give them specific information with proper proof rather than simply saying that the internet is slow. Provide the exact dates and times of the slowdown, along with your Ethernet speed-test results, affected services and traffic type, your subscribed speed, and information about your data usage if available.
Make sure that you inquire whether your connection is subject to a data threshold, traffic-management policy, speed profile, or other restriction. If the ISP does confirm that the limitation is part of your plan, you should consider upgrading to a different package to prevent this issue.