Is Internet Throttling Legal?

Ankita Katdare

Ankita Katdare

@abrakadabra • Oct 18, 2024
Bandwidth throttling is a reactive measure employed in communication networks to regulate network traffic and minimize bandwidth congestion. Bandwidth throttling can occur at different locations on the network.

I thought it was illegal. Any ideas?
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  • silverscorpion

    silverscorpion

    @silverscorpion-iJKtdQ • Apr 23, 2011

    Bandwidth throttling is a way of ensuring fair usage of the bandwidth by all the subscribers in that area.

    If such a fair usage policy is not present, then some particular users may hog the entire bandwidth with their downloads, and so, the experience of the rest of the subscribers in the area gets affected.
    And it's not very difficult to hog the bandwidth. All software using P2P protocol can easily consume a huge chunk of bandwidth in a very short time..

    So, it's definitely not illegal, as almost all service providers have such a scheme. And they can't help it.. That is, it's not illegal as long as the service provider does it and not someone else..
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  • Ankita Katdare

    Ankita Katdare

    @abrakadabra • Apr 23, 2011

    silverscorpion
    So, it's definitely not illegal, as almost all service providers have such a scheme. And they can't help it.. That is, it's not illegal as long as the service provider does it and not someone else..
    Thank you for the information. 😀
    I read somewhere that Throttling means ISP slowing down or blocking P2P downloads from software such as BitTorrent. P2P apps are commonly used for downloading illegal and media content like movies and music, but also are used for legal purposes as well, such as distributing large software packages to many users at once. Hence, the doubt.
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  • optimystix

    optimystix

    @optimystix-4yMPKC • Apr 29, 2011

    AKD, if you have noticed, most of the major ISPs throttle the bandwidth. But these are use primarily to restrict p2p downloads only. If you are on a non-unlimited internet rental plan, then you won't find any throttling as they would like u to download more and more and get exhausted of your allotted data transfer limits and start paying for the extra ones or buy a new plan again.

    Throttling mainly affects p2p downloading and multiplayer gaming but it can be usually resolved by using/forcing protocol encryption of incoming and outgoing packets and also by using appropriate port forwarding.

    Throttling cannot be totally termed as being illegal as all ISPs have relevant clauses for FUP under their Terms of Service(which most people do not read). Also more than 90% of the torrent downloads are illegal and hence ISPs claim to be putting restriction on illegal downloading. Bandwidth throttling affects traditional p2p downloads like gnutella more than magnet and bittorrent ones.
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