Yes, your internet provider can throttle your speed. Here's how to stop it (or at least try to)

There are myriad reasons your internet connection might be slow. There is a checklist for troubleshooting most of these issues, and the solutions range from surprisingly easy to complex and expensive.

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The problem of internet “throttling,” though, is not on a typical troubleshooting checklist because it is intentionally perpetrated by your internet service provider. Your slow connection may have nothing at all to do with failing hardware, software, or the positioning of your router.

Why would an ISP deliberately slow down your data feed?

An ISP might deliberately slow down your connection in order to manage network congestion, enforce data caps on your plan, or prioritize certain types of traffic. A more insidious reason might be the ISP’s intention to influence your personal internet habits. For example, your provider might slow down specific websites and applications to steer customers away from Amazon Prime or Netflix in favor of using the ISP’s own streaming platform instead.

Moreover, throttling can be used as a leverage tool to extract higher payments from companies. By slowing down the load times for a particular service, ISPs can pressure the company to pay for faster speeds for its customers. The additional costs incurred by the company are directly passed on to its subscribers in the form of higher fees or prices.

How is internet throttling legal?

Technically, in countries that enforce internet neutrality regulations, it is not legal. Net neutrality is the principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally by ISPs without discrimination based on content, website, or application. Some countries that enforce it may allow limited exceptions for specific scenarios, such as managing network congestion during peak usage periods. But these exceptions must be transparent and non-discriminatory.

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Unfortunately, as of January 2025, the US is once again on the list of countries that do not enforce net neutrality. Generally speaking, in countries that lack net neutrality regulations, ISPs have the freedom to manipulate internet speeds in any way they wish.

While China has only three ISPs, for example, all three are state-owned, and its government takes nonenforcement to the extreme. Instead, it employs its Great Firewall to check Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) packets for sensitive keywords to outright block unapproved foreign and domestic sites. 

How can you determine whether your bandwidth is being throttled?

It’s frustrating to see screen tearing while playing Far Cry, and especially vexing when you have laggy, frequent dropouts during online work meetings, or when you download or upload files that you know should not take that long.

So, say you’ve consulted that troubleshooting checklist. You’ve rebooted your modem, fiddled with your router’s antennas, and moved it to a more centralized location. In fact, you’ve upgraded your router, bought a Wi-Fi extender, or installed a secure mesh network. You’ve even gone so far as to ditch wirelessness and connect your TV or monitor to your router with an ethernet cable. And still, your connection seems suspiciously slow.

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You’ve done all this in addition to running simple internet speed tests at various times of day (e.g., peak vs. twilight hours). Running an internet speed test is quick, easy, and free. Fast.com and Xfinity are great sites for testing. I’m also partial to Ookla because it assesses download and upload scores separately. For scale, you’ll need at least 25 Mbps to watch HD streaming videos. Gaming requires around 50 Mbps or higher. A test score of 100 is quite good for any homestead. Just now, our ZDNET testing lab scored as high as 150.

The important thing, though, is that you’ll have established a baseline/average speed for comparison. Now you can see how things run when you try out a VPN (virtual private network).

How can a VPN help with throttling?

In a sense, a VPN hides your IP address from service providers, so they can’t target your network to slow it down — at least not as easily. If you run a speed test while your VPN is active and the resulting score is higher than when your VPN is shut off, this is a fair indication that your internet speed is being throttled by the ISP. That’s because your VPN will pretty much always run slower than your ISP’s router.

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A VPN helps to shield your identity, but the added encryption and routing through a remote server introduce additional processing steps, usually leading to a noticeable decrease in internet speed.

A caveat…

Having said all that, I should note that a VPN is not a be-all-end-all solution. Even when using a VPN, your ISP can still potentially throttle your connection because the data exchanged between you and your VPN provider, despite being encrypted, is contained within standard (IPv4/IPv6) internet packets. These packets include your original IP address, so ISPs might still be able to identify and limit your traffic based on this information.

An added complication is that ISPs often throttle the internet at local neighborhood nodes to conserve network resources by limiting needless data transmission. Otherwise, the collective bandwidth paid for by users at a local node exceeds the node’s capacity. 

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And despite the ISP’s intent of providing equitable bandwidth within your neighborhood, the problem often involves disparities in aging equipment compared to that of newer customers. 

While ISPs can avoid legal liability for throttling by allowing outdated equipment to organically reduce speeds, saving them money on upgrades is just part of our capitalist culture.

What can you do to stop internet throttling?

In short, using a VPN is not a panacea for preventing an ISP from throttling your speed, but it’s an effective option. You’ll certainly have more consistency with a VPN activated, but its maximum speed will be inherently slower than the full potential provided by your ISP.

If you’ve ruled out the likelihood that the problem is on your end and suspect your ISP is throttling your feed, then what else can you do?

You can call your ISP and politely ask them to stop it. Or you can complain and threaten to take your business elsewhere — if you have that option, which can be rare depending on where you live.

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Throttling can stifle competition, limit consumer choice, and hinder innovation. When ISPs have the power to control internet speeds, they can effectively pick winners and losers in the digital marketplace. This creates an uneven playing field where established corporations with deep pockets can afford to pay for faster speeds, while smaller companies and startups struggle to compete.

Either way, individual consumers like you and me deserve to get the most out of our monthly payment for the essential utility that is the internet.