Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Northeastern University ran 650,000 tests within the US from 2018 to 2019 to see if wireless carriers were slowing down streaming services. Their findings were comprehensive and damning across all major carriers.
The Research Findings
Using their Wehe app — which measures whether carriers are treating certain types of traffic differently — the researchers found:
- AT&T throttled video streaming in 70% of tests
- T-Mobile throttled in 51% of tests
- Verizon throttled in 30% of tests
- Sprint throttled in a smaller but significant percentage of tests
YouTube was the most frequently throttled service across all carriers. Critically, the throttling occurred regardless of whether the network was actually congested — demonstrating this was a deliberate policy, not a congestion management measure.
Deep Packet Inspection
To selectively throttle specific services, carriers must examine the content of data packets — a technique called Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). This raises significant privacy concerns beyond just speed throttling, as it means carriers can identify and classify what applications and services you're using at any given moment.
The Net Neutrality Connection
These practices became possible after the FCC repealed net neutrality rules in December 2017, which had prohibited ISPs from discriminating between different types of traffic. Without those rules, carriers were free to treat streaming video traffic differently than other data types.
The VPN Workaround
A VPN encrypts all your traffic, making it impossible for carriers to inspect the packet content and identify it as streaming video. Many users reported that using a VPN resolved their throttling issues with specific services. Landshark IT sets up and manages business VPN solutions across Tampa Bay — contact us to discuss your connectivity needs.