In today’s day and age, it is quite essential to have the right internet connection that can help you keep up with your work and entertainment. If you are a student, you need the internet for your research work, assignments, classes, etc. As an employee, you need the internet to be able to do your work and connect with your colleagues. On an off day, you need the internet to watch movies, play games, and do much more. It is as simple as that.
To meet all your needs, you simply go and get a good internet connection with a reliable reputation. Xfinity internet, for example, has a wide availability that helps with attracting a lot of customers and later, retaining them with good services – head out to https://www.buytvinternetphone.com/xfinity/internet to know more about it. However, this isn’t always the case with every ISP. Some ISPs stifle, or we can say throttle, your internet connection. If you are hearing this for the first time, then keep reading to learn more!
What is Throttling?
Throttling, which is usually referred to as internet throttling or data throttling, is when your internet service provider limits your bandwidth, which reduces your internet speed and slows your connection. It is basically the same as when you reach your data limit and then your connection slows down. This tactic is used by companies to save money and provide services to a lot more people.
While throttling is not necessarily a bad thing for some people, it can be unfair for others. For example, what if you have paid for a super-fast internet connection, but you suddenly feel like you are not getting as much speed as was promised? Thus, it is obviously not the right thing to do in any situation, unless there is a data cap on the plan.
Why Do ISPs Throttle Your Connection?
There could be multiple reasons why your ISP is throttling your speed. Let’s take a look:
Network Congestion
Network traffic can be a big issue for everyone involved. Customers can be unhappy at the lack of internet speed and ISPs will have to deal with a lot of complaints and maybe even loss of customers. When there is a single cable serving a neighborhood, there may be some network congestion in the area. To ensure normal distribution to every home, the ISP could be throttling the connection.
Of course, in this case, it is naturally a good thing, however, this isn’t always the case. If the ISP is intentionally throttling your speed and giving preference to some other customers over you, then it is not fair at all.
Data Caps
As we mentioned before, some internet plans come with data caps and once you have exceeded your data limit for the month, you will notice that the internet speed slows down. Some ISPs might give you the option of paying a data overage fee and getting regular speed, however, for other ISPs, this is not the case. Your internet connection will be slow as the ISP will throttle your speed.
Forbidden Activity
Sometimes, your ISP will throttle your internet speed if you are doing something illegal. ISPs usually come with security features and even parental controls in some cases. This is how they can detect and differentiate between illegal websites and legal sites. So, if you are trying to get to a blocked website or doing anything suspicious, your ISP will notice right away and throttle your speed.
How Do You Stop Throttling?
One way to get rid of unnecessary and repeated throttling issues is by getting a VPN. The VPN helps to create a secure tunnel between you and a dedicated server. Some ISPs might throttle your speed if they find out that you are using a VPN, so there’s that disadvantage. So, while this is a solution, it’s not really an ideal or permanent solution.
If your ISP is throttling your speed because of data caps, then you should try to get an internet speed that is more suitable to your needs. You can upgrade your plan or you can reduce your monthly usage. You can also try to lessen the activities that take up more bandwidth than other activities.
If the problem lies clearly with the ISP, the simplest solution is to switch providers. If you stay with the same ISP and upgrade your plan, you might still face the same issues, hence it is wiser to completely change your ISP.
Conclusion
Knowing what throttling is and why ISPs are likely to do it, you know what you should or should not be doing. If, however, you aren’t doing anything that should be reason enough for throttling, then you should definitely inquire about the reason for it. If your ISP does not have a legitimate reason, then it is time for you to switch to a new ISP, preferably one with a better reputation for reliability.