How to Stop Internet Throttling by Your ISP

Internet throttling is when your internet service provider (ISP) deliberately limits your internet speed or bandwidth.

Throttling works by limiting the rate at which data is transferred from your device to the internet, and vice versa. This has the effect of lowering your connection speed and reducing the volume of your bandwidth.

Throttling affects two different parts of your internet connection:

Your ISP can throttle all of your traffic if it wants to, but it’s far more common for it to throttle a specific activity based on your browsing habits. It does this based on five criteria:

We explain how ISPs throttle internet traffic further down.

There are sometimes legitimate reasons for internet throttling, such as ensuring your device doesn’t overload its processing capacity as well as optimizing the ISP’s network during periods of high congestion.

The extent of throttling can vary greatly by ISP and by country, which Wehe tracks globally on a regular basis.

Generally, throttling is carried out much more frequently by mobile carriers, like T-Mobile in the US.

As an example, T-Mobile outlines multiple factors in its network management practices that can lead to slower connection speeds.

One of these factors is whether you’re designated a ‘Heavy Data User.’ This is defined as a subscriber who uses more than 50GB of data in a single billing cycle.

Other leading broadband and mobile providers like AT&T and Verizon are equally guilty of using data prioritization to throttle specific customers.

Your ISP is unlikely to openly admit to throttling your internet connection. It’s also possible that your reduced speed is due to several other factors.

Follow the simple instructions below to figure out if your ISP is throttling your internet speed. You can easily do this at home.

1. Use an Internet Speed Test

You can use an online speed test tool, like Ookla, to test for internet throttling.

By running an initial speed test, you can compare your result with the advertised speeds of your chosen ISP. If there’s a large difference, then it’s likely that your speeds are being throttled, but it’s not definitive.

To be certain about it, turn on a virtual private network (VPN) and run another speed test. Connecting to a VPN server will conceal your browsing activity from your ISP and allow you to bypass activity-specific throttling.

If your new speed measurement is much faster than the first test result, then it’s highly likely your internet connection is being throttled.

This is one of the very few scenarios in which using a VPN can speed up your internet connection. That being said, a VPN won’t bypass all types of throttling.

2. Compare Results to Netflix’s Fast.com

ISPs can throttle your connection based on the specific services you connect to. For example, your ISP may only throttle your connection if it detects high-bandwidth activities such as streaming and torrenting.

Netflix, aware of this practice, created its own speed test at Fast.com. It works by performing a series of speed tests while connected to different Netflix servers.

If your result comes back slower than what your ISP advertises, or slower than the result given by Ookla, then your ISP is throttling your connection to Netflix.

If that’s the case, it’s also likely your internet connection will be throttled for other streaming services and bandwidth-intensive activities.

3. Use the Wehe App

To identify app-level throttling, we recommend using Wehe’s free app for Android and iOS. It detects if your ISP is deliberately slowing down specific apps like Netflix, YouTube, or Spotify.

It does this by sending real app traffic through your connection, then sending the same traffic again with randomized content that your ISP can’t identify.

If your ISP treats the two sets of traffic differently, it means it’s throttling your internet connection.

Wehe is much more precise than Ookla or Fast.com at detecting throttling on specific web services, rather than your overall connection. But, you can only test specific pre-defined apps with it.

If your ISP is throttling your full internet connection, there’s not much you can do to stop it.

Luckily, ISPs usually only throttle your internet in specific circumstances to regulate network performance. This is something you CAN fix.

We’ve listed below four methods to stop internet throttling. Here’s a table comparing the pros and cons of each method:

Bear in mind that none of these methods will stop your ISP from prioritizing higher-paying customers, and it won’t allow you to sidestep a predefined data cap.

1. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Pros	Cons
Can prevent throttling based on the protocol in use	Can’t stop paid prioritization
Can stop throttling based on the websites you visit	Can’t bypass a data cap or bandwidth limit
Can bypass throttling in censored countries	The very best VPNs cost money
Hides your internet activity from snoopers
Secures your web traffic on unsecured connections
Can be toggled on and off

Using a top-tier VPN service, like ExpressVPN, is the best way to stop most forms of internet throttling.

VPN software works by encrypting your internet traffic and routing it through a secure server in a remote location of your choice.

Once you’re connected, your device (or browser if you’re using an extension) is assigned the IP address of the VPN server, before being forwarded to the website or app you’re trying to access.

This hides the content of your internet traffic and the details of the website you’re connecting to from your ISP.

Your ISP can’t throttle your connection based on the protocols you’re using as your traffic is encrypted in a VPN tunnel.

Similarly, your ISP can’t monitor the websites you’re accessing, since the VPN server communicates with the webserver on your behalf. Basically, your ISP can only see your VPN server’s IP address.

2. Use an Encrypted Proxy

Pros	Cons
Can stop internet throttling based on the websites you visit	Can’t stop paid prioritization
Can prevent throttling based on the protocol in use	Can’t bypass a data cap or bandwidth limit
Can be toggled on and off	Can only be used on your web browser
	Difficult to manually configure

A proxy acts as a middleman between you and the website you want to access. Like a VPN, your internet traffic is routed through a proxy server which communicates with the destination website on your behalf.

The big difference between VPNs and proxies is that the latter often don’t encrypt your traffic. An unencrypted proxy will still spoof your IP address, but it can’t bypass ISP throttling since your ISP will have visibility of what you do online.

In other words, you can use a proxy to bypass ISP throttling but it must encrypt your connection, like a VPN extension for Chrome or Firefox from a reputable VPN company.

To manually add encryption to a proxy is a complicated process that requires a good level of technical knowledge.

If you still want to go ahead with it, then we recommend using a proxy configured with the Shadowsocks protocol to encrypt your traffic and stop internet throttling.

You can find download links for all major platforms and devices on Shadowsocks’ GitHub repository.

3. Upgrade Your Data Plan

Pros	Cons
Can bypass paid prioritization	Can’t prevent throttling based on the protocol in use
Can bypass a data cap or bandwidth limit	Can’t bypass throttling based on the websites accessed
	Upgrading your data plan is costly

If your current contract with your ISP or mobile provider is too restrictive, consider upgrading to a more flexible data plan.

Exceeding your allocated data limit can lead to bandwidth throttling, and subscribing to a lower-tier data plan can cause your data to be deprioritized in favor of other users.

Signing up to an unlimited data plan can allow you to bypass data caps completely, access fast lanes, and stream higher resolution videos.

Upgrading your data plan can be expensive and will typically require a higher subscription fee than the one you’re already paying.

4. Change ISP

Pros	Cons
Can bypass any form of throttling	Switching ISPs can incur extra costs
Can bypass paid prioritization	Requires a disruptive installation process
Can bypass a data cap or bandwidth limit

If you’ve tried all the methods above and still can’t stop your ISP throttling your internet, then you need to switch to a new ISP.

Changing to a new provider with better network management policies means you can access the internet with unrestricted connection speeds.

This can be an expensive and disruptive solution. Leaving your current ISP can incur an exit fee, and your new provider may need to install additional hardware in your home.

There’s also no guarantee that your new ISP won’t throttle your internet connection, especially during periods of network congestion.

Due to the limitations of mobile networks, you’re more likely to experience internet throttling on your mobile data plan than on your home broadband connection.

Mobile networks are in fact limited in several ways:

Data caps are more common on wireless mobile deals than wired broadband packages too, so you can also expect your data usage to be restricted.

Even ‘unlimited’ mobile data plans often impose data caps that may throttle your speeds if exceeded.

Crucially, you can’t use a VPN to bypass data caps on mobile. Moreover, a VPN can even increase your mobile data usage.

However, a VPN can bypass any ‘soft caps’ on your data plan, such as limiting your streaming speeds after exceeding an allocated amount of data.

Therefore, using a VPN is the most effective way to stop soft mobile data throttling. It will encrypt your device’s traffic and hide it from your mobile network carrier, stopping them from slowing or restricting your traffic based on your activity.

ISPs and mobile carriers throttle traffic based on different factors and using different methods.

We explained in more detail the four most common forms of ISP throttling (outside of internet censorship):

1. Throttling Based on Your Data Plan

ISPs divide customers into ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ lanes, with the former reserved for the highest-paying subscriptions and the latter for the lower-tier contracts.

ISPs can take this a step further by offering ‘Paid Prioritization’ to third party companies. Streaming services, such as Netflix, can pay ISPs to establish fast lanes direct to its servers.

This means your internet can be throttled when connecting to Netflix, or other services, if you don’t qualify for your ISP’s fast lane.

Equally, your traffic could be noticeably faster when connecting to the particular streaming service your ISP is affiliated with, but throttled when connecting to competing sites.

2. Throttling Based on the Amount of Data Used

Your ISP may be attached to a ‘soft’ data cap whereby exceeding it will result in slower speeds. This can also cause your connection to become unstable.

For example, AT&T allows customers who exceed their data cap either operate on slower connection speeds or pay for a higher allotment of data.

This differs from a ‘hard’ data cap which prevents an internet connection from being created.

3. Throttling Based on the Websites You Access

ISPs can monitor your browsing history, and some actively look to throttle activities that consume large amounts of bandwidth such as: streaming, online gaming, and P2P file sharing.

ISPs can collect the IP addresses of well-known streaming services and video game servers and throttle any traffic that attempts to connect to them.

4. Throttling Based on the Protocol in Use

Your ISP can monitor the content of your traffic through a process called deep packet inspection (DPI).

Your internet traffic is made up of small bits of data called ‘packets’ that establish a communication channel between your device and the server you’re accessing.

DPI allows your ISP to analyze the individual packets that make up your internet connection.

Some ISPs may use this method to identify specific protocols in your internet traffic that typically consume a lot of bandwidth.

This is generally used to throttle torrenters who rely on identifiable peer-to-peer protocols to carry out file sharing.

It’s easy to confuse slower connection speeds with internet throttling, but this isn’t always the case.

Your internet speed can be affected by a variety of factors that are unrelated to your ISP.

These include network congestion, a strict NAT type on your home router, or problems with your local infrastructure.

If you notice slower internet speeds, your first port of call should be your ISP’s internet status page, which will list any disruptions or outages in your area.

Equally, there are instances where your ISP is purposely affecting your connection speeds but it isn’t throttling.

For example, it could be simply down to the enforcement of your plan’s monthly data limit. Obviously, in this instance your internet connection would stop altogether.