How to know if your ISP is throttling your internet speeds
Even though the FCC presented new Net Neutrality rules in February, your Internet Service Provider may still be secretly degrading your connection performance and speed.
This new tool published by the nonprofit Fight For the Future can check if there are bottlenecks in your connection, by measuring the speed between your ISP and multiple interconnection points.
But we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves, are we?
What is an interconnection point?
Simply put, it's the point where the data you requested crosses between your ISP's network and another network that hosts your beloved content providers. (e.g., between your ISP and Netflix).
There are documented cases of voluntarily throttled connections to Netflix: when Comcast wanted to force the online streaming provider to pay a higher fee for data transit for example. And Verizon was accused of doing the same thing.
The Internet Health Test
This quick test, based on the M-Lab infrastructure - which is a coalition dedicated to an open Internet - allows you to measure the consistency of your internet speed.
After clicking the big green button, the test will open in a pop-up, and measure your connection speed in a multistep process.
As a result, it will give you a decent idea whether your ISP's interconnections with other networks are (voluntarily) congested.