To throttle by definition is “to control flow by choking or strangling”.
Bandwidth limiting, also known as throttling, occurs when your ISP limits your speed based on a myriad of components such as time of day and amount of content moved or the service you are using like YouTube or Netflix. This effect is similar to traveling during rush hour where you can go from 60mph to 20mph then back up to 40mph then down again all based on the flow of traffic and time of day. Many of the large carriers have started slowing down traffic to streaming services or competitive services. Many of the large internet providers also own network TV and cable stations and if they own NBC they may slow the transition to ABC streams. Future Link IT does not do any of that. Future Link IT is Net-neutral and will not limit you based on content you want to watch. To learn more about Net-Neutrality
Ever checked your internet speed? One site that will test yours is: www.speedtest.net
What your download speed means:
1-2 Mbps
Email and most web site will load fine and most music streaming services will work without interruption but Standard Definition videos will buffer on occasion.
2-4 Mbps
Users at this speed should not have any trouble with multiple streams of audio or video (about 2-3 at a time). Service at this speed will allow some file sharing and should work fine for streaming Internet TV.
4-5 Mbps
For online gamers and heavy video-on-demand, this is the preferred speed. This speed delivers uninterrupted online gaming for 1-2 users and up to 20 employees for typical business use.
5+ Mbps
Typically reserved for commercial service, users at this speed will find service interacting much quicker when using more complex online applications like video conferencing, real-time data collection, intense remote computing and high definition Internet TV.
Understanding internet speed is important to both businesses and homeowners. In reality, you’re your internet provider says your speed is often feels disconnected from what you experience.
Your internet speed has two different speeds: upload and download speed and most internet providers will always give you the maximum speed they are capable of offering; yet this isn’t always what we experience because of a backend tool known as throttling.
Download speed happens while you are surfing the web. The number provided here represents the number of Mbps your connection is allowing to travel from a website to your network. When it comes to reading, playing games, viewing video and listening to streaming music on the web, this is the key number.
Upload speeds happen when you are providing data to the web. The number provided here is the number of Mbps your connection allows you to send from your computer to a website. Because so much online activity is interactive, your upload speed is important because it will determine how well you are able to work with web-based applications. This is also very important for businesses with remote workers because the upload at the office is the download max for the remote users.
If your ISP is throttling your connection, there is a solution. First, recognize what you are getting: broadband or dedicated. Broadband service provides a faster download speed than upload – so while you may download at 3Mb you might see only a 1Mb upload and with more people on the system these numbers will decrease. Dedicated services is considered business class and comes with a service level agreement that guarantees your speed regardless of the number of users. Future Link IT is the only local internet provider that does not throttle – guaranteed. Businesses using our service have access to speeds of up to 40MB per second and home users have speeds up to 10MB per second; 10 times faster than DSL or Cable!
Looking for more FAQs regarding internet service? Check out the Internet Page on our website.