Avoiding ISP capping and throttling

For many Australians the Internet has become a big part of everyday life, with many using their broadband services for all sorts of things on a daily basis. Whilst many of us use the Internet for pretty basic things such as using social networking, research, catching up with news and simple web browsing there are others that like to use their broadband services for far more bandwidth hungry activities such as streaming content and online gaming.

Many people that have broadband plans with unlimited data assume that this is something that they can do whenever they wish to, and for most people the unlimited data plans are fine even if they are streaming data and playing online games fairly regularly. However, there are some people that are particularly heavy internet users – it is not unheard of these days for people to spend all day everyday playing online games!

Even if you are on a broadband plan with unlimited usage this could pose a problem as most plans come with a fair usage policy in place, which means that whilst it is ‘unlimited’ you still have to be mindful of your usage in order to ensure that the services of other people in the area are not being affected because of the amount of bandwidth that you are taking. Most unlimited plans will provide details of the fair usage policy in the small print and it is important that you familiarise yourself with this so that you know exactly what your provider’s policy is when it comes to fair usage. This can help you to avoid having your speeds throttled or your data capped by your ISP.

Things to bear in mind

It is important to remember that if you are using the Internet a lot of the time and for bandwidth hungry activities there is an increased chance that you will be flagged up by your ISP, which needs to ensure that your activities are not gobbling up all the available bandwidth leaving others in the area struggling with their services.

In order to avoid being flagged up, throttled, and capped by your ISP it is worth bearing a few things in mind. One of the most important is that the time of day that you tend to use your broadband for bandwidth hungry activities is extremely relevant. If you use your broadband service for online gaming and streaming during peak times then you are more likely to be flagged up as a heavier user. However, if you reserve all of your bandwidth hungry activities for less busy times, such as late nights then you are less likely to feel the wrath of your ISP.