AnyProxy

Get Pro
Glossary · Network

ISP (Internet Service Provider)

Also calledinternet service provider
Definition

An ISP (internet service provider) is the company that connects you to the internet, gives you a public IP address, routes your traffic and usually carries out national blocking orders.

Explanation

In depth

Your ISP, whether a home broadband provider, a mobile operator or your office network's upstream, is the first network your traffic crosses. It can see the IP addresses you connect to, the names you look up through its DNS, and in classic HTTPS the site name in the TLS handshake (SNI). It cannot see page contents on HTTPS. When a government orders a site blocked, it is the ISPs that do it, each with its own equipment and method. So the same site can fail differently, or work, depending on which ISP you use. OONI's measurements of vimeo.com in Iran from 15 July to 15 October 2026 show the spread. On MCI (AS197207), 587 of 811 tests were confirmed blocks. On TCI (AS58224), 210 of 2,198 were confirmed and most of the rest were anomalies. In Turkiye in September 2025, TurkNet blocked YouTube by answering DNS with 195.175.254.2, while OONI measured other networks throttling it instead. Through a web proxy your ISP sees an encrypted connection to the proxy, how much data moves and when. It does not see which sites you open inside it. It can still block the proxy's own name or addresses.

In practice

ISP (Internet Service Provider) in the real world

Same site, same country, different ISP. OONI tested vimeo.com in Iran from 15 Jul to 15 Oct 2026. Confirmed blocks: MCI 587 of 811 tests, Mobinnet 447 of 568, Respina 347 of 388, Irancell 374 of 920, TCI 210 of 2,198. On Mobinnet, a confirmed sample from 14 Oct 2026 shows the method: vimeo.com resolved to the private address 10.10.34.36. If a site works on mobile data but not on home broadband, different ISP filtering is the usual reason.

Sources: OONI Explorer: vimeo.com tests in Iran, 15 Jul - 15 Oct 2026 · OONI measurement: vimeo.com on Mobinnet AS50810, 14 Oct 2026 (DNS answer 10.10.34.36) · OONI — Throttling of social media in Turkiye (20 Nov 2025)

Questions about ISP (Internet Service Provider)

Why does a site work on mobile data but not on Wi-Fi?
They are different ISPs, often with different filters. A national list is applied by each operator in its own way, and home or office Wi-Fi may add filtering on top.
Can my ISP see what I do through a web proxy?
It sees an encrypted connection to the proxy's host, its timing and its volume. It does not see the pages or the sites you open inside it.
Can my ISP block the proxy itself?
Yes. It can block the proxy's domain or addresses like any other site. That is why region subdomains or another tool sometimes help.

Related terms

IP addressAn IP address is the number that identifies a device or server on a network, so packets know where to go; every website you visit sees one for you.ASN (Autonomous System Number)An ASN (autonomous system number) is the ID of one independently run network on the internet, such as an ISP, a cloud provider or a big company, used to route traffic between networks.DNSDNS is the system that turns a site name such as vimeo.com into the numeric IP address your device actually connects to.DNS filteringDNS filtering blocks a website by making the address lookup fail or point somewhere else, so your browser never reaches the real server.

Put the concept to work

Try AnyProxy free — no install, no signup, six regions.

Open a blocked page