Question about PIA's unlimited bandwidth.

[ColonelJoe]

Does PIA's unlimited download work for steam and xbox games pass? I have alot of games i want to download but my ISP has me capped at 1000gbs a month. (I already have used probably 3/4 of that and i dont want to us it all) 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Lets say I have used way over 1TB in a month with PIA, and never had a noticable slow down or issue, so I don't think you will have a issue.

 

But it will still count against your ISP datacap, as all the data still has to go through your isp.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

1 minute ago, ColonelJoe said:

1000gbs

This is a ISP hard limit. A VPN just makes your IP adres.... Weird (I'm not familiar with the exact workings)...... The ISP limits the amount of data you can get.

 

We cannot help you get around that limit. Just pay for a unlimited wifi plan.

[Br3tt96]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Lets say I have used way over 1TB in a month with PIA, and never had a noticable slow down or issue, so I don't think you will have a issue.

 

But it will still count against your ISP datacap, as all the data still has to go through your isp.

I've used a couple hundred gigs and haven't noticed any issues.

 

Yeah you're still using data to go through your isp, vpn, and back through your isp

[Eigenvektor]

9 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

This is a ISP hard limit. A VPN just makes your IP adres.... Weird (I'm not familiar with the exact workings)...

A bit simplified:

 

All requests go through your ISP to the VPN provider's server. The VPN provider then sends the request to the actual server (like the LTT forum). This "hides" your IP, because the site you visit sees the VPN provider's IP.

 

The response then goes back to the VPN provider and from there through your ISP to you.

 

So all data, including downloads, always goes through your ISP. The only thing the VPN does for you is to guarantee that stuff is encrypted between you and them, and they "hide" your public IP from the server(s) you visit.

[ColonelJoe]

8 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

A bit simplified:

 

All requests go through your ISP to the VPN provider's server. The VPN provider then sends the request to the actual server (like the LTT forum). This "hides" your IP, because the site you visit sees the VPN provider's IP.

 

The response then goes back to the VPN provider and from there through your ISP to you.

 

So all data, including downloads, always goes through your ISP. The only thing the VPN does for you is to guarantee that stuff is encrypted between you and them, and they "hide" your public IP from the server(s) you visit.

Then why on PIA's website does it say unlimited bandwidth? Is that just because they dont have a cap, but your ISP's cap still applies?

[ColonelJoe]

25 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

This is a ISP hard limit. A VPN just makes your IP adres.... Weird (I'm not familiar with the exact workings)...... The ISP limits the amount of data you can get.

 

We cannot help you get around that limit. Just pay for a unlimited wifi plan.

Hmm too bad, unlimited is extremely expensive. 

[Eigenvektor]

25 minutes ago, ColonelJoe said:

Then why on PIA's website does it say unlimited bandwidth? Is that just because they dont have a cap, but your ISP's cap still applies?

Exactly. Because they don't impose any additional limits.

 

All of your internet traffic always has to go through your ISP. Using a VPN to get additional encryption does not change this. So you can't circumvent your ISPs bandwidth caps that way.

[ColonelJoe]

Just now, Eigenvektor said:

Exactly. Because they don't impose any additional limits.

 

All of your internet traffic always has to go through your ISP. Using a VPN to get additional encryption does not change this. So you can't circumvent your ISPs bandwidth caps that way.

Ok. Thanks for the simple explanations. 

 

Too bad its not as easy as using a VPN to get around the limitation. 

[Donut417]

4 hours ago, ColonelJoe said:

Then why on PIA's website does it say unlimited bandwidth?

Because SOME VPN's do limit your bandwidth usage. 

 

4 hours ago, ColonelJoe said:

your ISP's cap still applies?

Your ISP is going to look for any data that passes your modem. VPN will add additional data usage as well. Ive heard it was around 30%, but I might be wrong. My ISP has a 1.2 TB cap, so I have looked at every avenue. The only way to get unlimited is to pay the ISP for unlimited.