VPNs are nothing new on the internet. However, an average netizen may not have heard about them. Despite their popularity amongst the privacy-centric crowd and the entertainment buffs, VPNs still haven’t permeated the everyday public. But is there a need for VPNs to do so? Many users either don’t know about the privacy concerns of the internet, or they do not care. However, even they know that the internet they are using is a service provided by an entity. This entity (public or private) is responsible for access to the network and governs the web according to the rules and guidelines dictated by the central authority. We call these services ISP or Internet Service Provider.
Hence, any ISP has total control over your data. What do you do on the net? What are the sites you visit, things you download, and how much time do you spend online? They know everything. Thus, they can directly or indirectly manipulate user behavior on the internet, for example, by slowing down user internet speeds. That’s why the question about how to stop ISP throttling with a VPN arises. Is it feasible, and if so, how, and are there are drawbacks associated.
What is ISP throttling?
Before we tackle the topic of VPNs and how to use them to stop ISP throttling, we have to understand the concept itself. Throttling is when your ISP deliberately limits your connection bandwidth. We already analyzed what VPN bandwidth is. Well, bandwidth is the ceiling of data traffic. Meaning, it defines the amount of data that can travel through a connection. Imagine a pipe with a smaller radius. The water flowing will always be lower than the amount flowing through another pipe with a wider mouth. Hence, when your ISP limits your bandwidth, it essentially places a data cap on your network to limit the usage of the net.
Typically, ISPs restrict data when your monthly plan expires, or you are behind on your bills. But they can non-conventionally lower your internet speed for many reasons, even if you are on an unlimited plan. The principle behind it works similar to a highway. With more congestion, there will be slower traffic. Thus, to throttle your internet, the ISPs route your data through high traffic relays or networks to increase latency and decrease speed via increasing congestion. Despite their reasons, ISPs do engage in data throttling. Although, there are several methods and technologies to prevent or safeguard against it. We propose VPNs as the best solution.
Why do ISPs throttle connections?
Coming to the topic of throttling, why do ISPs do so? Any such provider will claim users experience throttling because they may have gone over the data cap. Alternatively, they may be behind on their internet bills. But the problem isn’t that straightforward. The real reason behind any throttling may stem from company guidelines and government policies. However, the core of the issue remains with costing. It isn’t feasible to provide ultra-fast speed to everyone.
Thus, ISPs consciously limit server bandwidth to cut costs. Moreover, to do so effectively, an ISP critically monitors your internet consumption. That’s because specific internet usage always requires more speed than others. Let us give you an example. Consider a user who only needs the internet for emails and one who actively streams content 24/7. Who requires more speed isn’t a mystery. Hence, they, after investigation, always target such traffic to make the user reluctant into using the internet. There are other reasons such as:
- Network congestion
- Exceeding data caps
- Paid prioritization
- Forbidden activity
1. Network congestion
ISPs also throttle bandwidth to manage network traffic. They do it to distribute bandwidth between their user base equally. Although, when they do it properly, users won’t even notice any drops in speed. But some can get a bit greedy. ISPs under the guise of network management often throttle sped to shut out heavy volume traffic to save costs. They may target P2P traffic to curb torrents for several purposes, including back-end deals.
2. Exceeding data caps
Another reason behind throttling is the monthly/billable data cap. ISPs limit how much data you can send and receive during one billing cycle. But the antic remains in false advertising. Many ISPs claim to offer unlimited data, but they enact data caps. While they do not outright claim to do so, if asked, they do answer that they included it in the fine print, which most users neglect to read.
3. Paid prioritization
The best example is paid-prioritization. Many ISPs engage in exclusive deals with other companies to promote their services. Also known as the internet fast lane, it allows ISPs to throttle data to competition and promote their services. For example, Netflix may pay your ISP for a fast lane. Your ISP may throttle data going to Disney to force user traffic towards Netflix.
4. Forbidden activity
The government dictates IT policies, and ISPs have to follow. When a government renders a website or service illegal, then the ISP has to block user access to that site. They also do it to enforce censorship when government regulations require it.
Is it legal?
Governments and central authorities around the globe have taken an ambiguous stand toward ISP throttling. It is not legal, but also not illegal. Many governments demand that ISP does not discriminate. But they do not stop fast lane services. Another facet to the issue is that it is hard to prove ISP throttling. Hence, even if rendered unlawful, it is next to impossible to prove.
How to spot ISP throttling?
As we mentioned in the previous segment, it is hard to confirm the throttling ISPs impose. Hence, users may choose scenarios such as a slower internet at peak hours, incredibly slow downloading, and lagging videos as indicators to spot ISP throttling. However, they can’t prove it reliably.
Primary way to stop ISP throttling using a VPN
There are many techs available that can prevent ISP throttling, such as SOCKS5 proxy, Tor (The Onion Router), regular proxies, and so on. But nothing comes close to the efficiency of VPNs. A VPN is a virtual and private network that runs on top of any communication channel. It allows clients to access servers remotely, and then the servers access the internet on behalf of the clients. Hence, a VPN can hide the originating IP address of any data traffic. But that’s not all a VPN is capable of—it employs security protocols to connect servers and clients by creating a tunnel.
But they also secure the data by employing encryption. Thus, a VPN can stop ISP throttling by encrypting data traffic. Since the data can’t be accessed without a decryption key, the ISP can’t monitor it and throttle your internet. To bypass that, it has to throttle the whole internet connection. VPN can increase speed by preventing these types of speed restrictions. However, one has to remember that it will only affect this practice. If the speed encounters a reduction via any other factors, even a VPN can be rendered useless. As for steps, you merely have to connect to a VPN server from a reputable provider of your choice to prevent ISP throttling.