VPNs reroute all your internet traffic through a private server before it reaches the internet, masking your IP address.Īlthough it's largely a myth that VPNs speed up your internet connection - after all, your data packets have to make a longer journey - if you're experiencing bandwidth throttling, it may be an occasion where the inverse is true.īandwidth throttling is targeted, but there are ways you can prevent it from happening There are a couple of ways to avoid being bandwidth throttled. Can I stop my ISP from throttling my bandwidth?

Whilst compiling their 2019 report, they found 14. In their 2018 report, for example, digital rights group Access Now found at least 22 instances of government-induced bandwidth throttling and suggested there were probably many more. Throttling is a technique commonly used by authoritarian regimes to control their citizens' internet usage, especially in periods of political tension.

There are too many people on the same network.

Above-average background internet usage.

Internet usages that may lead to bandwidth throttling Some providers simply cannot service thousands of people gaming in high definition. However, it is often implemented when an ISP cannot fulfill the internet speed-related promises it has made to its customers.

Throttling is usually framed as a necessary, reactionary measure ISPs implement to manage network traffic and mitigate congestion across their network. Why do ISPs engage in bandwidth throttling? 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. Throttling is a synonym for strangling and bottlenecking, but is often prefixed with the word 'bandwidth' in a computing context.

Throttled meaning data