Your carrier might limit your Netflix and YouTube streaming videos. This is how you test

If you've ever seen a YouTube or Netflix video slow down on your phone, even when your network is well protected, your data may be throttled. A recent study conducted by Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst revealed that AT & T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon had all artificially slowed online videos. If you do not know how to determine if your phone company is slowing down your data, you can test it with the Wehe application.

Wehe's tests show you the speed of certain applications, such as Netflix and YouTube, compared to other applications running on your phone. A difference between the two usually indicates that your ISP has slowed down the application in question.

We used Wehe on the four major US carriers. The results revealed no difference for Spotify (which means it does not seem to be strangled), but YouTube has been slower on almost every operator.

• Verizon: Spotify without differentiation, YouTube speed of 4.5 Mbps against 17.7 Mbps without debit
• T Mobile: Spotify no difference, YouTube 1.5 Mbps versus 17 Mbps
• AT & T: Spotify no differentiation, light differentiation of YouTube detected 1.2 Mbps against 1.5 Mbps
• Sprint: Spotify no differentiation, YouTube no differentiation

AT & T stated that it does not restrict, discriminate or degrade network performance based on content.

"We offer customers the choice, including speeds and features to manage their data," said AT & T spokesman Jim Greer in a statement. "This [Wehe] The application fails to take into account the choice of settings or the plan of a user likely to affect the speeds. We have already been in contact with application developers to discuss how they can improve the performance of their applications. "

In one message, Choffnes said the team does not deny that the plan chosen by the user or the settings of it may affect regulation.

"What is true is that AT & T throttles a significant fraction of Wehe's video tests of our users (about 70%), so at least for our users, it seems very likely that their plan / settings are configured to strangle the video, "said Choffnes.

T-Mobile declined to comment on the study, but mentioned a 2015 press release about its efforts to allow more streaming.

Verizon and Sprint did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Here's how to check if your videos are slower than your other apps.

1. First, you need to download the Wehe app for Android or iPhone.

2 Make sure your Wi-Fi network is turned off so your phone uses your carrier's network during testing.

3 Select each application you want WeHe to run a test. Choose from YouTube, NBC Sports, Skype, Vimeo, Amazon Video, Netflix and Spotify.

4 Tap Run tests. Give him a few minutes to load the test results.

5 If the results show that there is no differentiation, the application works properly. If there is differentiation, it means that your network could limit your data.

Have you tested your apps on Wehe? Let us know your results in the comments. If you want to know more about the speed of your phone, check out the article.

Need a boost? Here's how to improve your phone's slow data connection or poor signal strength.