Canadian ISP Shaw throttling VPN connections

[AB10134 8]

Greetings,

 

After numerous tests with 2 different VPN providers ( including AirVPN ) I've come to the conclusion that Shaw ( a prominent Canadian ISP ) is throttling UDP/TCP VPN traffic.

 

My internet plan is for 50Mbps of which I get roughly 48Mbps on speedtest.net while connected via UDP or TCP VPN to Canadian/USA servers or any countries for that matter i'm locked at 3.5Mbps consistently some times 4Mbps.

 

The only solution I was able to find was a service that seems only few VPN providers offer ( AirVPN being one of them ) is SSL Tunneling, after using SSL Tunneling I was able to get 20 - 30Mbps ( of which I find acceptable as download managers can improve this )

 

Just wanted to share this tid bit of knowledge with any other AirVPN Canadian subscribers.

 

Thanks and have a great day !

 

 

[Annonnymous 8]

Funny I have the same problem with my provider O2 Germany. The only thing that did the trick was using ssl to circumvent a huge drop in speed

[Baraka 32]

Any provider that does this is pure garbage and should open up an office in China. Would fit in perfectly over there.

[2Cents 7]

Had the same issue with an ISP in the Middle East ... switched to UDP 53 (typically used for DNS traffic) and I am now maxing out my 50Mbps conn, specifically with NL, DE, SE servers (mainly European servers).

[fchang 1]

I don't think it is legal to throttle in Canada. I 'think' I am having the same issue. Tried 2 different VPN providers and servers, tried the desktop client and router OpenVPN. Only getting about 5Mbps consistently, regardless of setup and provider.

 

I have talked to my ISP Teksavvy who in turn talked to Bell and both 'Claimed' that they do not do traffic shaping.

 

Is there any Teksavvy DSL customer here achieving higher speeds here in Canada? It is very frustrating.

[chris0101 0]

Had this issue with BT in the UK too, SSL fixed it though, fast  

[Ansuz 5]

 

I don't think it is legal to throttle in Canada. I 'think' I am having the same issue. Tried 2 different VPN providers and servers, tried the desktop client and router OpenVPN. Only getting about 5Mbps consistently, regardless of setup and provider.

 

I have talked to my ISP Teksavvy who in turn talked to Bell and both 'Claimed' that they do not do traffic shaping.

 

Is there any Teksavvy DSL customer here achieving higher speeds here in Canada? It is very frustrating.

 

I'm using TekSavvy DSL in Toronto (15 Mbps plan) and just got 13.44 Mbps on SpeedTest.net while connected to the VPN.

[weerreedines 4]

All:

 

I understand this is a 2 year old thread, but I feel that it is appropriate that I provide my input here.  

 

I am also a customer of Shaw in 2018.  At this time I subscribed to a Shaw 150 Mbps offering in my area.  In practice I can achieve a recorded speed of 90 at best.  I called to receive some compensation for this issue, but that's besides the point.  

 

At this time, if I connect to AirVPN through Canadian or U.S. servers, the speed test results in 1-5 Mbps.  If I connect to the Netherlands, the speed test results in some where between 19-25 Mbps.  I agree with the OP that there is definitely something shady going on with Shaw in general.  But I am told from friends that their experience with Telus and VPNs are also similarly challenged.  I have tried other protocols, but the speed result is usually 1-5 Mbps.  

 

I understand that there are other smaller outfits in the market, such as Teksavvy.  But, these outfits have a long lead time before anyone can show up at the door.  I have enough personal difficulty with the idea of letting some third party service guy from Telus show up at my door.  Hence I chose Shaw since the at home service visit is carried out by a Shaw employee.  

 

EDIT:  March 4, 2018 - From my experience I note that streaming video can be slow at times.  Once I have a VPN up, the stream becomes much better.

 

EDIT:  June 24, 2018 - At this stage, my speed without VPN has not improved.  But, AirVPN speed increased to an all time observed high of 50 Mbps.  Shaw has recently received negative publicity for mistreating its customers with a pay-to-pay argument surrounding their invoices.  I am contemplating competitors such as Teksavvy.  As of this writing, Teksavvy has won CRTC battles enabling customers who wish to switch to simply change modems instead of necessitating a technician to visit the residence.

 

EDIT:  June 25, 2018 - After receiving a Teksavvy modem and testing the internet speed, I have observed a new all time high of 120 Mbps.  My only conclusion from this is that Shaw is deliberately throttling customer speeds and making any excuse conceivable.