How to Bypass Bandwidth Limit Restrictions in 2021 [Full Speed]
Table of ContentsHow to Bypass Bandwidth Limit Restrictions (ISP Throttling)Why Do Internet Service Providers Throttle User Bandwidth? The 3 Best VPNs to Bypass Bandwidth Throttling1. ExpressVPN2. NordVPN3. CyberGhostFinal Thoughts
Do you experience slothy connections that come out of nowhere when streaming movies or NBA playoffs online? That’s bandwidth throttling: when your internet service provider (ISP) slows down your connection based on what you’re watching. Fortunately, you can get around ISP throttling when you learn how to bypass the bandwidth limit with a virtual private network (VPN).
Key Takeaways:
A VPN sends your traffic through an encrypted tunnel, preventing the ISP from seeing the websites you visit. When the ISP is blind to your online activity, it no longer selects you for throttling for viewing specific VPN is the best VPN to bypass ISP throttling because it’s the most secure VPN and delivers unparalleled speeds. A VPN doesn’t help bypass bandwidth throttling caused by network congestion or data cap overages.
A VPN gets around this anti-consumer practice, enabling you to enjoy an unrestricted online experience. In this article, we’ll use ExpressVPN — the best VPN provider — to demonstrate how you can skirt around throttling with a VPN. Keep reading also to learn why ISPs limit your bandwidth.
There’s no way to lift an internet bandwidth limit. Not even a VPN can help. The only way around the limit is upgrading to a higher internet plan or switching a reliable VPN is the fail-safe way to bypass bandwidth If you’re on a 5 Mbps internet plan, using a VPN won’t make your internet connection though you could use a proxy server to try to avoid ISP throttling, a VPN is by far the best solution because it provides better security. You can even try a good free VPN, like Windscribe.
How to Bypass Bandwidth Limit Restrictions (ISP Throttling)
There are various reasons why ISPs limit your bandwidth (which we’ll talk about later). The gist of it is that it sees you using a lot of bandwidth — by streaming HD videos, downloading torrents or a number of other things — so it slows your connection down. When the ISP uses bandwidth throttling against you, you should take action. If you can’t change your ISP, your next best option is to use a VPN.
The Tor browser can also help you get around ISP throttling, but it’s super slow, which defeats the purpose. This leaves the VPN as the surefire way to easily bypass bandwidth throttling without putting further strain on your connection. So, how does a VPN prevent bandwidth throttling?
How a VPN prevents ISP throttling.
A VPN reroutes all of your internet traffic through its servers to anonymize everything you do online. This gives ISPs no chance to know when you visit bandwidth-heavy sites, like Netflix. ISPs prioritize throttling for users engaging in streaming or torrenting activities, so with a VPN you won’t be on the high-priority list. This saves you from content-based internet throttling.
Bypass ISP Throttling Your Internet Traffic: Use a VPN
For a VPN to effectively bypass bandwidth throttling, it should come packed with security features, like AES 256-bit encryption and strong VPN protocols. ExpressVPN is our favorite VPN here at Cloudwards, which is why we’ll use it to show you how to get around ISP throttling.
Subscribe to the VPN of Your ChoiceHead over to your chosen VPN’s website, pick a suitable pricing plan and complete the signup wnload and Install the VPN Go to your account dashboard and enter the ExpressVPN verification code sent to your email. Select the right app for your device, depending on your operating system, and download it. Next, locate and double-click the installation file, and then click “install” to start the in to the VPN AppOnce the app is installed on your device, sign in and enter your mplete the SetupIf the VPN has any extra steps for you, such as choosing some initial preferences, follow along with the installation nnect to a Preferred Server LocationNext, you need to choose a server to establish a connection. For example, if you want to watch movies on U. S. streaming sites, connect to a VPN server in the U. Otherwise, just use the server closest to you for the best Throttling-Free StreamingThat’s it. Once connected, just hop over to your channel of choice — whether it’s Netflix or Amazon Prime Video — and start streaming videos. With a VPN, you’ll no longer face ISP throttling, as it sends all of your traffic through an encrypted tunnel.
Why Do Internet Service Providers Throttle User Bandwidth?
Your ISP may decide to impose bandwidth throttling when it notices you’re engaging in activities like streaming or torrenting. By limiting download speeds for bandwidth-intensive websites, ISPs reduce bandwidth usage on the network. That enables the ISP to serve more internet users without increasing its network capacity.
You could have also gone over your data usage limit. Some ISPs won’t disconnect your internet altogether when you exceed the set data caps. Instead, they keep you connected but throttle your internet speed to prioritize users that are still within their data limit.
Beyond that, ISPs may throttle connections during “internet rush hour” to ease congestion over the network. Generally, the ISPs throttle the internet connection of anyone consuming a lot of bandwidth to enable other users in the area to get regular services.
The 3 Best VPNs to Bypass Bandwidth Throttling
A VPN helps bypass throttling because it prevents your ISP from detecting where your traffic originates. Here are the top three services that can stop ISPs from throttling your internet speeds.
ExpressVPN — Stellar security and lightning-fast speedsNordVPN — Top-notch security and obfuscated VPN serversCyberGhost — Affordable and streaming- and torrenting-optimized VPN servers
We’ll discuss each provider’s strengths (and weaknesses, if any), starting with ExpressVPN — our best VPN service to circumvent ISP throttling.
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN offers all the features you need to bypass throttling and stream videos without buffering.
More details about ExpressVPN:
Pricing: $6. 67 per month, plus three months free on the yearly planProvider website:
Pros:
Excellent security & privacyIncredibly fast connection speedsUnlimited bandwidth
ExpressVPN is the best VPN to stop ISP throttling, thanks to its strong digital security and blazing-fast speeds. It barely puts a dent in your browsing speed, and being our best VPN for streaming, it unblocks pretty much any streaming site. Using AES 256-bit encryption and a variety of VPN protocols, it ensures your activity stays private.
Besides that, ExpressVPN uses a private domain name system (DNS) on every server to prevent DNS leaks. Doing so prevents your internet provider from seeing the type of websites you visit based on your browser’s DNS requests. Plus, ExpressVPN has a strict no-logs policy to put your mind at ease.
It’s a little more expensive than the rest of our picks, but the value it offers more than makes up for the higher price tag. Read our ExpressVPN review for more information.
2. NordVPN
NordVPN’s real forte is security, which comes in handy when bypassing ISP throttling.
More details about NordVPN:
Pricing: $4. 13 per month on the two-year plan Provider website:
Stellar securityObfuscated serversSmartplay technology
Cons:
Inconsistent speeds across locations
NordVPN is another good VPN provider to defeat ISP throttling. With over 5, 300 servers, NordVPN ensures you have a server that’s geographically close to you for faster connections.
Though it doesn’t match ExpressVPN’s speed consistency over longer distances, it makes sure you can access any geoblocked content using the “smartplay” feature.
NordVPN’s obfuscated servers conceal your VPN usage, making it look like you’re not using a VPN at all. Plus, most importantly, they make it impossible for the ISP to distinguish bandwidth-heavy traffic from simple web browsing. NordVPN is also our best VPN for torrenting, plus it’s more affordable than ExpressVPN. You can read more about it in our NordVPN review.
3. CyberGhost
Besides helping you bypass data throttling, CyberGhost provides streaming- and torrenting-optimized servers for an excellent online experience.
More details about CyberGhost:
Pricing: $2. 25 per month, plus three months free on the three-year plan Provider website:
Strong online securityOver 7, 300 servers worldwideStreaming & torrenting friendly serversAffordable VPN
Not particularly fastInconsistent access to streaming services, except Netflix
CyberGhost is a cheap VPN solution to ISP throttling. It has more than 7, 000 servers across 91 countries, with a special focus in the U. S., UK and Germany. CyberGhost offers many specialty servers, like the NoSpy servers, that deliver strong data encryption and greater anonymity to keep your traffic out of an ISP’s reach.
CyberGhost also offers torrenting-optimized servers, which facilitate seamless and secure torrent downloads. However, one big disappointment is that in our testing, CyberGhost — despite its streaming-optimized servers — could access Netflix but not Amazon Prime Video, Hulu or BBC iPlayer. Read more about it in our CyberGhost review.
Can You Use a Free VPN to Bypass ISP Throttling?
Technically, yes, you can use a free VPN to get around ISP throttling, but only if you find a reliable free VPN, and those are hard to come by. You’ll rarely find a free VPN with security features to send your traffic via a truly secure tunnel. Some may sell your data to third parties or leak it on the internet, despite promising to never keep any user activity logs.
That said, some VPNs, like Windscribe, offer reliable free plans. We vouch for Windscribe because of its security and high monthly data cap of 10GB, and we have no reason to doubt its no-logs policy, too. Our list of the best free VPN providers has other effective services, as well.
Final Thoughts
If your ISP is deliberately throttling your bandwidth when it notices traffic from streaming or torrenting sites, a VPN can be of great help. We recommend getting started with ExpressVPN because it guarantees watertight digital security and excellent streaming speeds.
Have you ever experienced ISP throttling affecting your internet speed? Which VPN service did you use to stop bandwidth throttling from your internet service provider? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments section below. As always, thanks for reading.
Does VPN Bypass Data cap? Must Know Info
There are millions of data users worldwide, and, in VPN matters, the primary concern among most of them is data usage. Since the internet is slowly becoming a daily necessity, it increases the need for VPN. There are so many questions surrounding VPN use and whether it can bypass data, does VPN bypass data cap? When using a VPN, your data passes through your internet service provider’s (ISP) servers first before the VPN’s server, so any data caps set by the ISP cannot be bypassed. As VPN data is encrypted, it’s larger in comparison to unencrypted data, so any data cap will result in less encrypted data passing through compared to unencrypted data when a VPN is not used.
ISPs can have data caps especially on their low cost plans and this also include cell phone networks, that can restrict data depending on the plan selected.
A VPN service provider, especially a paid for subscription service won’t generally have any data caps and won’t also throttle bandwidth. Free VPNs on the other hand, may have data caps and may rigidly enforce these.
If you are worried about data usage, especially with your ISP and your VPN, this article is the right guide. We discuss whether it can bypass throttling and, if not, does it waste data? In the coming sections, we will divulge the details about these and more concerns.
Data Caps
Some Internet Service Providers limit how much data you can use within a particular time; these are known as data caps. However, there are so many unlimited data plans for users to choose from, so there’s flexibility in being able to choose an unlimited data plan especially on cell networks.
For the limited plan, some ISPs can limit the total amount of data that can be sent over a specific period, such as only allowing a maximum of 5 gigabytes of data a month to travel from the user’s device across the ISP to the data usage above the data cap will probably result in extra charges for the user. Other companies also entirely shut out the user from any internet connection; it depends on the specific provider for your subscription.
These data caps are necessary for the ISPs to give their users a manageable price for data use and ease network congestion. Most users have concerns about the data plans’ current prices; hence, the complaints about whether it is essential.
Moreover, some companies have admitted that the data caps are unnecessary for the user’s benefit, but profits. Therefore, as a user, you are justified to wish for a way to bypass these data caps.
Does VPN Bypass Throttling?
A VPN can help in bypassing ISP bandwidth throttling as the ISP is unable to effectively work out what type of traffic is passing through it’s systems. All the ISP can see is encrypted traffic and not individual types of traffic going to different parts of the internet. Typically using network tools, the ISP can distinguish the different types of internet traffic from website traffic, voice calls, torrent traffic, video streaming traffic and so on. It can then decide to throttle that is slow down certain types traffic, so for example, slowing torrent traffic right down but leaving other types of traffic alone.
Throttling is where the ISPs achieve their motives even without the users’ knowledge. When we talk of data throttling, we refer to the activities that slow down the internet to maximize bandwidth. The result is a faster network for other unaffected way to ensure that you are not affected by ISP data throttling is by using a VPN network, as the ISP is unable to work out exactly what type of traffic is passing through it’s servers. All it can see is encrypted traffic going to the VPN servers.
When you install a VPN, you install the VPN client on your device but there is also a second part, the VPN server, which the VPN provider takes care of. With a tunnel created between these two sources, the VPN client and the VPN server, any data travelling through this tunnel will be encrypted. The VPN uses powerful encryption that the ISP can’t read.
As much as the ISP can’t read the encrypted VPN traffic, they can still calculate the transiting data size and therefore enforce any data caps but with data throttling, where the speed of the internet connection is changed, it’s a different story.
A VPN can effectively bypass throttling, given that when you use data, it travels directly from your device to the VPN server over an encrypted tunnel. Therefore the ISP has no way of knowing what type of data is travelling across this tunnel even though the tunnel goes across it’s own systems.
ISPs could determine that the traffic is going to a VPN by knowing the IP addresses the VPN servers use but as this keeps changing all the time, it becomes difficult for them to track VPN server IP addresses.
So, how can you use a VPN to bypass throttling? First, it may cost you. You need to acquire and subscribe to a reliable service provider, ensuring that it will effectively keep your data private. Doing so will ensure that you don’t need to worry about being spied on by ISPs.
Also, note that you need to consider the device you will use and the internet speed you need. You can do this by installing a speed tester; we all want fast speed internet connections.
How To Bypass Data Throttling
First, you need to settle on a reliable VPN provider. Given so many options to choose from, you need to find the most suitable option for your needs. You can base your choice on need and affordability.
As soon as you find one, you can quickly gain access to the secure network and effectively avoid data caps. The next step is to download the VPN. Using it as an app for your device will enhance its performance and improve its can download the Android, Windows, or IOS version based on your gadget, and all you need is to enter your details to log in, and you are good to go.
It is also necessary to establish the server’s connection since it varies depending on your country or state. The good thing is, there are various VPN providers in many countries that any user can access. It would help if you also used a suitable browser, given that some are prone to throttling. Some users find the phone’s Chrome browser effective in bypassing data caps.
Also, note that you may find extra support that accompanies the VPN, like data savers. This way, the VPN will help achieve your desired bandwidth; most of these are downloadable for easier access.
Does VPN Waste Data? For internet users with unlimited data plans, data wastage may not be a big deal compared to other users. If you have a limited package, then your main aim is to use your data sparingly. As noted, the VPN is heavily encrypted; therefore, you need more data to receive and send these kinds of data. Moreover, these data use more space than the standard data. Therefore, VPN, to some extent, uses more data given how it operates.
Logically, a system that functions in encrypting such bulky data to enhance user privacy will work more. This extra data usage required is called encryption overhead. Therefore, the stronger your VPN, the more data you will use. Similarly, the stronger the VPN, the slower your internet connection; thus, it will take longer for you to load data.
How To Limit VPN Data Usage
The first way to limit data usage, which applies to any other application, is to turn it off when it is not in use. If it works in the background, it may use up your data even when you are not using it; hence, the need for restrictions. One way to do it is to disable it unless you need access to blocked content or transferring sensitive files.
Secondly, you can configure it to cater to your data needs; this allows you to enable it only when using specific applications or programs. When you do so, you allow it to run the intended programs and leave out other heavy ones that are data consuming.
On the other hand, if you can access public Wi-Fi, utilizing it may save you some data. Given that VPN enhances data security, you need not worry about security.
Lastly, you need to ensure that you use the closest VPN server; this will significantly save data. The notion behind this is that the closer the server is, the faster it will be in data transfer. Thus, you utilize the bandwidth and data usage. Note that you also need to be careful in your server selection to select genuine providers; this way, you are sure that your data won’t leak to other sources.
Lastly
VPN will come in handy in data security, but it may not effectively bypass hard ISP data caps, thanks to their routing to their servers. However, you can easily bypass some throttles and soft caps. Similarly, it is possible to get faster speeds, and you can unblock heavy applications such as Skype or Netflix.
We advise the use of a VPN, not just for security but also as a way to bypass data caps. As much as it uses up some data, you need not worry about wastage. Besides, there are various measures you can use to optimize data usage when using a VPN.
Do VPNs let you bypass ISPs data limit?: VPN – Reddit
It appears your ISP is not very smart. It blocks only HTTP(S) traffic, with an exception for its own website. Perhaps they also filter some other protocols, but apparently not VPN. If it stays that way, then a VPN can work, but it can’t last forever. If you don’t pay, at some point they will probably just terminate your service contract and cut off any data transmission for the traffic limits, used data is counted regardless of protocols. If anything, a VPN will make you spend your limit slightly faster, because of a data overhead it introduces.