As critics warned, the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules has already resulted in popular services being throttled.
Net neutrality, established during the Obama administration, required that internet services be treated equally so new companies would compete on a level playing field with established incumbents. That framework helped preserve open access and ensure startups could grow without being disadvantaged by differential treatment from network operators.
Proponents of repealing those regulations—primarily large service providers—argued that high-traffic services such as YouTube and Netflix place disproportionate strain on networks and should contribute more to infrastructure improvements.
You have a patchwork of different carriers doing different things to your network traffic
Opponents warned that removing net neutrality protections would enable carriers to favor their own services or those of partners, degrading competitors’ performance. Consumers have limited tolerance for persistent buffering or poor quality video, and will switch services if the experience is subpar.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Northeastern University published findings showing how some companies have responded to lighter regulation under the Trump administration by limiting consumers’ data speeds.
The study confirms what many suspected: all four major U.S. mobile carriers limit streaming video to 480p by default unless customers pay for plans that permit HD streaming. While that policy was already known, the research quantifies how often throttling occurs and which services are most affected.
Investigators gathered data from about 100,000 volunteers who installed a mobile app called Wehe. The app monitored network behavior for “differentiation” while users accessed services. In total, roughly 500,000 tests were run across some 2,000 service providers in 161 countries.
Verizon and AT&T were found to throttle data far more often than others. The study recorded 11,100 instances of differentiated streaming by Verizon and 8,398 by AT&T. T-Mobile throttled traffic 3,900 times, while Sprint showed the fewest occurrences at 339.
Those raw counts may partly reflect differences in subscriber numbers—Verizon and AT&T have substantially larger customer bases than T-Mobile and Sprint, which could influence total occurrence tallies.
David Choffnes, co-author of the study and developer of the Wehe app, told Bloomberg:
“If you are a video provider, you have a patchwork of different carriers doing different things to your network traffic. And the patchwork can change any time.”
The ability for carriers to reduce the performance of specific services demonstrates the leverage telecom operators hold over data-dependent businesses in regions without strong net neutrality protections.
The study lists YouTube as the top target for throttling, followed by Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Spotify, Skype, NBC Sports, and Vimeo.
Rather than describe practices to customers as “data throttling,” many carriers use terms like “network management,” which obscures that speeds may be intentionally limited.
Some examples of throttling have already provoked public backlash. For instance, Verizon was reported to have throttled data connections used by emergency firefighters responding to wildfires in Northern California’s Mendocino County, raising safety concerns.
The researchers plan to publish the full results after compiling a year’s worth of data; the study will then be submitted for peer review.
What are your thoughts on carrier throttling? Let us know in the comments.
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