A premium VPN can help prevent ISP throttling by hiding your online activity. ISP throttling often occurs when your ISP detects high bandwidth use and wants to regulate network traffic. A top-tier VPN like the services listed here encrypts your online activity — while your ISP can see that you’re connected to a VPN, it can’t see what you’re doing to impose any restrictions.
Your ISP may use techniques like “peering” to spy on your data use and potentially throttle your connection. Some ISPs have been known to throttle speeds to Netflix and Amazon Prime to encourage you to use other services affiliated with the ISP. By connecting through a VPN server, your ISP can’t detect your website visits, P2P file-sharing, or any other activity, which can help you avoid throttling.