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Glossary · Network

Throughput

Also calledbandwidthspeed
Definition

Throughput is how much data actually reaches you per second, the real rate of a connection as opposed to the maximum (bandwidth) your plan advertises.

Explanation

In depth

Bandwidth is the capacity of a link, the number on your internet plan. Throughput is what one download or video stream really gets. It is pulled down by distance, because TCP waits for acknowledgements and a long round trip slows how fast it can ramp up. Packet loss, congested links, Wi-Fi interference and any limit a network deliberately applies pull it down too. That is why a speed test can show 100 Mbps while a video through a far-away server buffers. Throttling targets throughput directly: the network lets a service connect, then holds it to a trickle, so the site is technically reachable but unusable. OONI documented this in Turkiye on 8 September 2025, when X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and Signal were slowed after political unrest while other sites ran normally. The same day, TurkNet blocked YouTube outright by DNS. Through a web proxy, the throttled service's name never appears on your network, only the proxy's. Your throughput then depends on the path to the proxy region and on the site's own servers. Higher-resolution video needs sustained throughput, so pick the nearest region.

In practice

Throughput in the real world

Throttling shows as normal reachability with collapsed throughput, and it is measurable. During Turkiye's 8 September 2025 restrictions, OONI found TLS handshakes to the targeted platforms took much longer than to 19 other hostnames on the same IP prefixes. On TurkNet (AS12735) YouTube was blocked outright instead, with DNS answering 195.175.254.2. One country, one day, two techniques: slow it down on some networks, cut it off on others.

Sources: OONI — Throttling of social media in Turkiye (20 Nov 2025)

Questions about Throughput

What is the difference between bandwidth and throughput?
Bandwidth is the most a link can carry. Throughput is what a transfer actually gets once distance, loss, congestion and any throttling are taken into account.
How can I tell if a site is being throttled?
It connects but crawls while other sites on the same connection are fast. If it speeds up through a proxy or VPN, the slowdown was on your network.
Why does video buffer through a proxy when my speed test is fine?
Video needs sustained throughput across the whole path. A distant region or a busy site can be the bottleneck even when your own line is fast.

Related terms

LatencyLatency is the delay for data to travel from your device to a server and back, measured in milliseconds; it is why a page can feel slow on a fast connection.Edge serverAn edge server is a server placed close to users, at the 'edge' of a network, so requests are answered nearby instead of travelling to a distant central data centre.CDN (Content Delivery Network)A CDN (content delivery network) is a company that runs servers in many cities and answers requests for a website from a location near the visitor instead of from the site's own server.

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