Thou Shall Not Throttle Bandwidth
This has been a hot debate for quite some time yet the moment the ISP billing system (See: http://www.visp.net/ ) of your service provider generates your billing, you can’t do anything about it. You have to pay the said bill or your Netflix binging days are over. Whether you were able to efficiently use the bandwidth allotted by your service provider or not.
As for efficiency, of course, you’ve done everything a typical internet user does. Stream videos, download games, listen to music online all day, and any activity to get your bandwidth’s worth. But are you really certain you’re indeed maximizing the data plan you’ve availed? Have you experienced slow internet speeds during those times? This is a common scenario but what if “outside entities” forced this snail-like speed?
The outside entities we are talking about are weak Wi-Fi reception, piggybacking (uses someone else’s connection), or you’ve forgot your Torrent is running in the background. These three could be fixed. On the other hand, there is another factor playing behind the scenes. Are you aware that your service provider has the ability and the “right” to throttle or cap your internet service?
Throttling is a practice done by service providers as their check-and-balance policy. This is a process involves limiting the internet speed of heavy users. Once they notice your bandwidth exceed the threshold they’re maintaining, expect a bottleneck while downloading using torrent or lag as you play an online game that eats bandwidth a lot.
In the United States, this issue pushed through the Net Neutrality or “open Internet” movement. It is a campaign initiated and coined by Tim Wu on 2003, a professor at Columbia Law School. As Save the Internet website defines, “it means that Internet service providers should provide us with open networks — and should not block or discriminate against any applications or content that ride over those networks.”
After more than a decade of nationwide protests, amendments, and hearings, finally, pro-Net Neutrality advocates won the battle. On February 26, Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made a historic decision by 3-2 vote in favor of Net Neutrality. This means ISPs should not block, throttle, and lease “premium lanes”.
Unfortunately, this is only a US-based law, so the rest of the world must continue watching their backs or their service providers. How will you know on your end you’re being throttled? We’ve found some diagnostic tools online you can run to find out if your service provider is capping your connection.
Visit M-Lab or Measurement Lab, and try out the tools under Performance and Transparency sections. They have Glasnost that can check if a curving or shaping in speed occurs when running bandwidth glutton apps. The Network Diagnostic Test (NDT), which compares the speed between your computer and network, and provides an in-depth analysis report as well.
What happens after you run a plethora of tests? Is it possible your service provider will take heed of your complaints? Because based on the ISP’s perspective, you’re the one who disrupts other users and their business. Is it time for a full-blast worldwide Net Neutrality campaign?
