How to Bypass ISP Cap for Gaming, Streaming and Torrenting

Over the last few decades, an internet connection has become a necessity nearly on par with running water or electricity.

Connection has a utilitarian side in that it helps you save time paying your bills, getting in touch with your peers, shopping online, and bringing yourself up to speed. However, many Internet users also indulge in online entertainment services such as streaming multimedia content and online games, and they use torrents to share content with others.

Unfortunately, these services consume large amounts of bandwidth, leading to network instabilities. In turn, Internet service providers (ISP) can impose a series of limitations to avoid network congestion, poor connectivity, disruptions and even temporary timeouts.

If you’re a lightweight Internet user, you might not even notice these restrictions, as reading emails, using instant messaging services and paying your bills online doesn’t take a significant toll on bandwidth.

If you’re an avid online gamer, torrent user or media streaming addict, on the other hand, you notice right away if your ISP is throttling your connection. Fortunately, there’s a way to avoid that.

VPN can bypass ISP throttling

It’s no longer a secret that a trustworthy VPN solution such as Bitdefender VPN can help you dodge artificial ISP-imposed connection limitations.

VPN re-routes your traffic through a secure tunnel, away from your ISP’s network, so you can enjoy online content without worrying about the restrictions set in place by your Internet provider.

Simply select a server location from the VPN client’s main window, establish a connection and use the online services as normal, whether you’re gaming, streaming or torrenting.

It’s worth mentioning that the length of your connection affects its speed, so avoid choosing servers far from your physical location. Modern VPN solutions, including Bitdefender VPN, have an Automatic option that determines the best server available for your physical location and connection speed.

Most of the time, leaving your VPN on Auto offers the best results in regard to speed and connection stability, so we recommend sticking with it unless you’re dodging censorship or geo-blocking.

If you’re trying to access content that’s been geo-blocked or restricted explicitly by your ISP, using a VPN can also help you. However, you may have to select a server located in a non-restricted country.

VPN isn’t a silver bullet for connectivity issues

Note that you can’t increase your actual bandwidth by using a VPN. Therefore, if you paid for a low-bandwidth Internet subscription, a VPN won’t magically add Mbps to your plan.

More so, using a VPN might do more harm than good if your ISP offers a physically subpar network that’s not adequately managed and regularly maintained. In this case, switching providers might prove a better solution.