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ISP throttling VPN? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

20 comments fedilink hide all child comments

My ISP seems to be throttling my VPN connection. Just started a week or so ago. Anyone have any tips for correcting this shit?

Edit: Sorry, I didn't leave much info. I guess I was thinking in more general terms. I use PIA, have for years. I've tried to change protocols and ports, my VPN speed still sits around 10K. Just ridiculous. Speed test without VPN:

SOLVED!! OK, I'm an absolute idiot. The tl;dr I had accidentally toggled the Toggle Alt. Rate Limits setting. Thank you everyone for attempting to help that which couldn't be helped!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

No matter which VPN provider I've used, they've all had periods where things were just slow. Eventually came good as the speeds were reported and their either upped their infrastructure or fixed the problem.

I've had plenty of occasions where the VPN connection slowed down over time, disconnecting and establishing a new connection put it back to the maximum speed too.

I haven't been with PIA for years, but it was one of many that I experienced both of these issues. I abandoned PIA when it got bought out by a company that made its money and start via spyware, adware, tracking people & selling PII and any other information they could slurp up. The antithesis of what a VPN company is supposedly all about.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm looking at almost 1Gbps up and down. How fast is it normally?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

That's the normal speed. Maybe it's not my VPN. I ran a speed test with the VPN and only dropped around 100 Mbs.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago

Think you dropped your IP in the image there, might want to censor it for safety

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I'd suspect your VPN is slow before suspecting ISP throttling.

you --> ISP --> target
you --> ISP --> VPN --> target

You're introducing VPN, with different network routing, and a routing middle-man, and suspect ISP before VPN?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

If you're in the UK, any targeted throttling of your connection is considered traffic shaping and is illegal pretty much always.

Your ISP is required to publish documentation on all traffic throttling that they employ, even if it's none. Check out their documentation and see what it says, if you're in the UK.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

switching the server usually works for me

edit (in response to your edit): holy shit your internet is fast, even w/ the vpn. it's around 900 mb faster than mine🫠

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Have you tried switching protocol (if you're using UDP, try TCP, and vice versa), changing the port (if the VPN server supports multiple alternate ports), trying different countries, or using different VPN types (if you're using Wireguard, try OpenVPN, and vice versa)?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I've tried everything but different countries. I'll get back to you on that.

Edit: Nope. Everything I change seems to make no difference in speed. Not slower, not faster.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Check your VPN provider and see if they offer alternate VPN types besides OpenVPN and Wireguard. If you're lucky, your ISP might not throttle it yet. For example, ProtonVPN has a "stealth" protocol and Mullvad has ShadowSock

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Especially if you're trying to use OpenVPN on a home Wi-Fi router. Those are really underpowered, and OpenVPN is fairly inefficient. Wireguard on the other hand...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Data would help.

IF YOU CAN SAY::

Who is your ISP

VPN provider?

What speeds for each? —also consider a different node or connection location.

— also you may have options for protocols — WireGuard vs OpenVPN etc

[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Which ISP, which VPN, which protocol, which server?

You're not really giving us a whole lot to work with.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, yeah not much to go on. I have Private Internet Access, I've tried both protocols and the available ports. Nothing made a difference.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Looks like they are using OpenVPN and Wireguard, both static protocols that can be easily detected from your ISP.

Try a provider that offers a proprietary protocol - Astrill and ExpressVPN have their own, for example - or use a shadowsocks service instead.

And try playing around with different servers as well, I get great speeds going through Switzerland and Sweden with my VPN.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Thank you for the info. I'll try your suggestions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How tested are the proprietary protocols for data safety?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Nobody knows, externally. That's the thing about proprietary stuff.

Personally I think they are using a modified open standard and just add an obfuscating layer to the client-server-handshake, but that's speculation on my end.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

What are you seeing, and what steps have you done to troubleshoot so far?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

No VPN = faster

VPN = slower

Do you have more info you can share or expand on problems you are experiencing?

VPNs are known for slowing down your internet.