Is throttling of bandwidth bij ISP's detectable? And how?

[rannydevries]

Hello,
I live in Suriname, South America.
We have 3 national ISP's of which 2 make use of a shared connection on the Suriname-Guyana Submarine Cable System (SGSCS)
I suspect one of them of Throttling the bandwidth somewhere between the sea cable landing and the end-points.
The other one is doing just fine in regards of bandwidth tot the end-points.

Is there any way or tool to measure and proof my suspicion?

[AenionRex]

Have you asked them directly? I have had good success calling companies and asking them directly. I live in the US. I'm not sure what type of consumer protection laws exist in Surinam-Guyana (or how well they're enforced).

 

While, I've never had a company tell me my specific bandwidth was being throttled or deprioritized, they have told me what customer classes experience this at what point of service.

[rannydevries]

Hi AenionRex,

The laws here are from the 20th century, no obligation for transparency what so ever.

I've asked but "no one knows". Then I confronted them with independant measurements of speedtests, compared their results to different local isp's, and compared their own ookla speedtest servers to impartial speedtest servers (with significant differences in performance of course), but still no clear answers on how that is possible, only denial.

So, I' m back to my original question. Are there any tools that can detect and proof bandwidth throttling?

[AenionRex]

Right on. It sounds like you have evidence already, but not definite proof. I'm not aware of a tool that will do ISP side testing, but what I don't know could fill the grand canyon. I suppose if you got speed test results from a number of their clients and they all resembled the tests you've already done then you'd have solid evidence.

 

Good luck!

[MarkB]

If you suspect your ISP is throttling your connection, this usually happens depending on what kind of data is being transmitted, such as torrent use. You can test for this. If possible connect your computer to your modem/router using an ethernet cable, this will give you consistent results, unlike WiFi. Now run a speed test. After that, open a VPN client and re-run the test. If your connection is significantly faster while using the VPN, your ISP is very likely throttling your service. This trick works because ISPs often throttle speeds when they detect certain types of traffic, such as torrenting. However, because a VPN client encrypts your data, the ISP can’t see what you’re doing.

 

There are of course many reasons for slower speeds other than ISP throttling, like traffic congestion at certain times, and connection issues in general.

[rannydevries]

On 8/22/2021 at 3:57 PM, AenionRex said:

Right on. It sounds like you have evidence already, but not definite proof. I'm not aware of a tool that will do ISP side testing, but what I don't know could fill the grand canyon. I suppose if you got speed test results from a number of their clients and they all resembled the tests you've already done then you'd have solid evidence.

 

Good luck!

Thanks

 

On 8/24/2021 at 2:51 PM, MarkB said:

If you suspect your ISP is throttling your connection, this usually happens depending on what kind of data is being transmitted, such as torrent use. You can test for this. If possible connect your computer to your modem/router using an ethernet cable, this will give you consistent results, unlike WiFi. Now run a speed test. After that, open a VPN client and re-run the test. If your connection is significantly faster while using the VPN, your ISP is very likely throttling your service. This trick works because ISPs often throttle speeds when they detect certain types of traffic, such as torrenting. However, because a VPN client encrypts your data, the ISP can’t see what you’re doing.

 

There are of course many reasons for slower speeds other than ISP throttling, like traffic congestion at certain times, and connection issues in general.

That is one way I haven't tried yet. Will check when I'm back at the office. Thanks.