The term ‘bandwidth throttling’ refers to a purposeful slowing of the bandwidth which is available. In other words, throttling is an intentional reducing of the speed which is typically available over a particular internet connection. Bandwidth throttling may take place happen at various places between your device (such as your computer or smartphone) and the website or service which you’re utilising over the Internet.
Why Is Bandwidth Throttling Used?
Bandwidth throttling can be used in order to actively limit a user’s upload and download rates on programs such as:
- Video streaming,
- BitTorrent protocols, and
- Other file-sharing applications.
Throttling is also used to even out the usage of the total bandwidth supplied overall users on the network.
Also, bandwidth throttling is often utilised in Internet applications to spread a load over a wider network. This is to reduce local network congestion. Alternatively, bandwidth throttling can be used to spread the load over a number of servers to avoid overloading individual ones. This reduces their risk of the system crashing and gains additional revenue by giving users a reason to use more expensive tiered pricing arrangements where bandwidth is not throttled.
How To Check If Your Bandwidth Is Being Throttled
The most visible way to tell if your Internet is being throttled is to run a free speed test that is available online. Unfortunately, most Internet service providers are able to detect speed tests and artificially inflate your speeds in order to make it seem that they’re not throttling you. So, a speed test isn’t a failsafe way to identify Internet throttling.
The only reliable way of checking if your connection is throttled is with a virtual private network. This is also known as a VPN, so it may be worthwhile learning “what is a vpn” before using this particular method to check if your bandwidth has been affected. Not only that, but ISPs may often throttle only specific types of content, and a VPN may make this practice pretty much impossible by masking your IP address and online activities from your ISP. With your ISP being forced to treat all of your content equally due to the lack of ability to discern what sort of websites you’re viewing, you should then have the ability to measure your true speeds by using an online speed test.
How To Select The VPN That Is Right For You
Every potential VPN user is going to have slightly different VPN needs. Although the basics of a VPN service are similar, each service is different and of course every user has different requirements. This is why it’s important to do your research on the VPN services that are out there, such as researching review pages like the Private Internet Access VPN Review, for example, to find the service that works for you. The best way of picking the ideal VPN service is to take careful inventory of what your needs are before you start shopping. If you want to use it for work or for playing zar casino games, know this upfront.
You may even make the discovery that you don’t need to go shopping. This is because the home-grown or router-based solutions which you already have are a perfect fit.
So, before you buy your VPN, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do You Need to Geo-Shift Your Location?
- Do You Need Secure Casual Browsing?
- Do You Need Safe Access to Your Home Network?
What Makes For A Great VPN Provider?
Aside from the most obvious matters – among them, a good price point that sits well with your budget – other elements of VPN selection can be a bit opaque. Some of the matters that you’ll want to consider are:
- What Protocols Do They Support?
- How Many Servers Do They Have and Where?
- How Many Concurrent Connections Are Allowed?