Is it illegal for an ISP to throttle?

How do I stop my ISP from throttling me?

If a customer is experiencing a slowdown of data traffic due to a slow internet connection the ISP will not want to admit to having used data caps, or to their own network issues, they are in a difficult situation.

In many countries this practice has been outlawed since 2026. If you live in one of these countries you should do your best to understand how your specific rights on the matter are different, as we cover that in our article: How to check if your internet provider is throttling their users.

However, there are two scenarios where you would be out of luck: You are visiting somewhere that uses another company's infrastructure for internet. This may mean your broadband is provided by a wholesale broadband provider like Vultr, or a mobile virtual network operator, although even then you are typically on an independent network (but it may be that you have a direct agreement to use the other company's service).

You are using a VPN. Although we do provide instructions on how to configure a VPN with most ISPs, this usually means that your connection to the VPN is through an intermediary and we do not control its security settings.

How does my ISP keep track of my internet usage? The ISP will keep track of your internet use in the log files maintained for you, usually within the directory /var/log/apache2, and these files can be viewed directly using a text editor or more specifically, the free web based log viewer: . To view the full range of IP addresses connecting to your website you can use our website . This tool shows where visitors are coming from which is useful when you are running web applications like website builders. Using an application like Ublock Origin you will often block certain IP addresses that might otherwise hit your pages, or the IP addresses that request content which is most likely to slow the page load down. If your account has exceeded the monthly data cap set by your ISP you will also often see that in the logged information.

A better way of checking your internet use is to use Tor which will disguise your traffic as originating from several different IP addresses each day.

What to do if your ISP is throttling you on Reddit?

On January 25, 2026 the Internet community on Reddit was alerted to the existence of some shady behavior at Internet provider Cablevision.

Their cable modems are supposed to allow streaming from Netflix at a very high speed, but a group of subscribers to Cablevision reported that while the connection speed seemed to be good at first, but then slowed down after an hour or two. As Reddit members began investigating what was going on, they discovered that several thousand people were experiencing similar issues with their modems and the problem was not limited to their service, but across all three major nationwide ISPs, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and AT&T U-verse.

At first it seemed like another case of a user reporting a problem that could be solved with a simple reboot, but it became quickly apparent to Redditors that they were dealing with a massive issue which was going to affect the entire country if nobody took action. Within a few days hundreds of thousands of people had joined Reddit, many from ISP customers and the question was being posed: What should we do? In the end it was a coordinated effort between the Internet community and government regulators from FCC and FCC boss Julius Genachowski was quick to jump in and state that the FCC would use the incident as a way to raise awareness about ISP throttling of Internet access speeds, to remind ISPs that they are acting illegally and there will be some consequences. It seems that some form of punishment is still likely, but no official dates are given to ISPs at this point, with that being a part of an ongoing investigation of what was possibly a single case of a malicious ISP doing something bad.

This incident would not have occurred had it not been for the excellent cooperation between ISPs, federal agencies and Internet service providers, a large segment of Reddit users, and especially the Internet community working together. We'll be providing regular updates, as new information comes in. If you're looking for a more indepth look into the situation, check out other sites in the links below, also make sure to subscribe to our RSS feed for full update availability.

Here's the most current updates to this story. As they come in they'll be sorted, as best as possible. As the situation develops it will change.

Note: Updates are being sorted by date, as the latest posts from each ISP are being added to this list.

How to tell if your ISP is throttling you?

I have an ADSL service provided by Orange in the UK.

The last time I went onto their website and checked my download speed I discovered that I am receiving a speed of 10Mb/s. They also provide a page with stats which show my downloads/sessions at 4Mb/s. I've always been under the impression that my ISP wasn't throttling but the fact they have a page where all customers can see my download speeds has me confused. Is it possible for my ISP to throttle me?

My ISP can throttle, they're pretty good about it, in fact they usually give a better bill if you ask for your account to be throttled, but they're not required to do it, so you still have the choice of keeping a constant speed or saving some money. They definitely seem to care if you take advantage of it, they do send you a few emails telling you about it.

I'm sure they probably get less complaints than with more annoying things, it would not shock me if their are lots of people who deliberately tell them when their connections are slow because of their own gaming habits. So they are using the default on speed tests, then it's really all down to how your line is configured by the people at your exchange. So the speed is correct but there is likely something in the way.

There should be an option for "Custom", maybe there isn't in which case I wouldn't be surprised if it's just the default. On a home connection you will be on the default settings because otherwise you end up like me getting all sorts of packets being blocked and sent over slower channels (it's the last thing they should do but apparently they do it) and the speed becomes far slower than is indicated by those figures. It could be as simple as having antenna too near the router, or you could even have an RF amplifier built into the modem (I've had both with the same results). I am running my modem through a powered antenna for better reception. It would seem that my Internet speed is only 10Mb/s but according to Speedtest I'm receiving around 11.5Mbps download and 0.1Mbps upload. So why do they show a speed of 10Mbps/0.

Is it illegal for an ISP to throttle?

The following is a copy of an email I received from a reader who wished to remain anonymous.

I appreciate his contribution and will use his story in my future articles on this topic, but I can not confirm that the ISP he is describing is the same ISP that I mentioned in my last article.

I have noticed that AT&T does not allow me to download videos unless they are downloaded in 4.8MB increments and at about 1MB/minute. When I called them they said it was due to bandwidth issues in the area.

I checked out the local laws that govern this and I found nothing in regards to the regulation of "throttling" or the regulation of the practice of "bandwidth limiting". I looked online and found a bunch of people saying that AT&T's use of bandwidth limiting is illegal under the Communications Act of 1934 as amended and the FTC's rules (I cannot remember the exact rules.) I would be grateful for any guidance in this regard. Thank you for your time. A Reader. Great question, and actually something that we should all be asking ourselves! You are right, there are no laws that specifically address throttling. However, there are two laws that have the potential to address the subject. The first is the Communications Act, which limits the activities of the carriers. We'll explore those provisions and their implications later on.

The second law is the Federal Trade Commission Act, which regulates trade practices. There is an explicit provision in the FTC Act that prohibits ISPs from engaging in deceptive trade practices, which includes throttling customers. The FTC Act also prohibits other practices that could be considered throttling (eg, charging different prices for different packages).

Let's look at each of these provisions, starting with the Communications Act. The Communications Act sets out a host of requirements for companies that provide wireless or wireline broadband services. Part 201 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations sets forth the basic rules of the road for the carriers, and it sets out a set of requirements for consumer protection. Part 201 applies to any provider of broadband service, regardless of whether it provides wireless or wireline services. It also governs broadband service providers who use fiber optics, radio frequency spectrum, or other kinds of wireless technology.