Does your ISP limit (throttle) your connection speed?

[S.Horton]

About a month ago, I noticed my photo uploads and downloads had slowed down.

I have a two-way cable modem and my provider is Service Electric Cable TV and Communications
http://www.sectv.com/

I didn't think much of it, but when it continued I decided to re-check my connection speeds.

Normally, I use just a web page to do it:
http://speedtest.net/

Old Results (Upload/Download): 3 Mbps / 7 Mbps
New Results: .8 Mbps / 3 Mbps

So, are they throttling? Did they decrease my speed on the internet? Did they tell me about it? (rhetorical, as you may guess)

YES, they are limiting my connection. Yes, the speed is in fact down. Of course they didn't tell me.

If your ISP is doing this to you, you can find out by using one of these tools:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...t_service.html

The one I used is:
http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transpa...ttest-mlab.php

Interesting, since I pay the same amount per month, but now I have less speed.

My success calling this vendor for any kind of help is, well, about the same as every other Cable company, I imagine.

I think it is interesting that cable companies are monopolies, still.

Ah, the internet age!

Gotta love it.

[IShootThings]

As much as I wanted to vote for "Why is this not a poll about the TF? " I had to vote "Yes" instead because I have Comcast who also limits your monthly bandwidth usage.

I do know that the speeds vary depending on the time of day and the number of other people in your area that are using the service. It's been a while since I read up on it...

[Anke]

Not sure if the UK is different and the ISPs are more open but mine clearly states that if you go over your allowance then you will be throttled back for the rest of the billing period. The throttling gets more severe the further you go over your allowance. I think most ISPs here in the UK have this policy clearly stated.
They also manage the traffic over the network at certain times of the day so that all users get a fair experience. The more you pay the less "managed" you are.

[oldvultureface]

Oddly, our local phone company's DSL has been better lately-up from 3 Mb/s to 4 Mb/s. There was a period a few weeks ago where the service was slow and intermittent but suddenly it picked up and has been excellent ever since. I'll assume they were getting the bugs out of some new equipment. My wife is pulling data continuously watching the stock market five days a week and there's certainly no throttling or limiting of bandwidth.

[S.Horton]

Originally Posted by msclman99

As much as I wanted to vote for "Why is this not a poll about the TF? " I had to vote "Yes" instead because I have Comcast who also limits your monthly bandwidth usage.

I do know that the speeds vary depending on the time of day and the number of other people in your area that are using the service. It's been a while since I read up on it...

Yes, they do vary, because my street/zone/area shares one line coming into this neighborhood. So, I could see variations, but this drop was too consistently slow, so I started watching, then checking......

It isn't like I could call the Cable company and talk to anyone who knows anything, either.

(I know people who worked there; it is not a mystery why that is true. Service costs money. Gasp.)

[FlyingPhotog]

I think Cox puts the brakes on residential over use but I can't claim I've ever experienced a significant slow down.

50Mb/s cable with direct fiber looming in the near future.

[S.Horton]

Oh, I wish I could get that kind of speed!

At Lehigh U, if you go on the network as a guest, I know they throttle heavily; you get a maximum sum of up/down in any one second. So, if you are uploading, you can literally wait a long time for google.com to show up in a browser. They have to do that for students as well, but the limits are higher.

Otherwise, well, music and video, plus the (amazing) number of kids doing Skype/Video chat......

[thomascanty]

I'm with Time Warner/Roadrunner and they've actually doubled my transfer speed since I signed up with them four years ago. No increase in price and I didn't ask for it. It's just a heck of a lot faster now.

[Scatterbrained]

Originally Posted by FlyingPhotog

I think Cox puts the brakes on residential over use but I can't claim I've ever experienced a significant slow down.

50Mb/s cable with direct fiber looming in the near future.

I envy your future! I moved back to Va from Fl and the cable internet here is half the speed as the DSL was in Fl, and it cost more! The best I could get was slightly slower than what I had as a basic package in Fl, and would have cost me over twice what I was paying down there. During peak hours I can go and make a pot of coffee (with a vacuum brewer even) while waiting for a small news video to load.

[CountryBoy]

I just want to know ,where is the TF ?

[S.Horton]

Enquiring minds want to know. You have that kind of mind.

The TF may have my bandwidth, for all I know.

[Scatterbrained]

Originally Posted by CountryBoy

I just want to know ,where is the TF ?

The TF is hiding in your ceiling, stealing your bandwidth.

[joeseph]

here in the third world, ISP's have most folks on a capped plan where if you go over your allocated useage per month, they rate-limit you to 56K (dialup speed)

Other plans that don't do this charge you exhorbatant costs for "overuseage"

[Pingman]

Kind of hard to answer this one since I know they are throttling my speed. When you sign up for FIOS, you pay for specific speeds. I am currently getting this...

Broadband Speed Test Speed Test for the Central region
We have finished your connection speed test for TX - Texas.
Your download speed is 22.974 Mbps. Your upload speed is 8.611 Mbps.

[S.Horton]

ANZ is not 3rd world! That's where the -real- Babe lived!