Is my ISP slowing down/blocking game launchers?

[Anxious Hairball]

Note: This started way before the recent pandemic. 

 

I have a "manageable" 40 Mbps/5 MB/s connection.  Recently, when I logged into EGS to update unreal engine, the downloads would stay at 0KB/s and sometimes hitting 10 KB/s. I also found out that all other game launchers are behaving similarly.

I have run a speed test, tried a few downloads from sites such as Nexus and every other imaginable download, which turned out to be fine. This is limited to game launchers only.

 

EGS: Setup file download, launcher updates and downloads slow (0-10 KB/s) or stuck.

 

Origin: Same as EGS except I cannot seem to change payment methods and add Paypal after removing it. (which was possible before)

 

Steam: Setup download and steam updates are slow (0-10 KB/s), however game downloads are fine.

 

Uplay: Same as Steam.

 

What I have tried:

• Downloading from my laptop and another person's laptop who uses the same ISP as mine to check if this isn't limited to my desktop.
• Contacting each of these launchers' tech support. All of their fixes didn't help.
• Contacting my ISP which gave some interesting results.
• Asking a friend who uses a different ISP. Their downloads were fine.

I have contacted my ISP about 5-7 times and every time the tech support would say something different as a solution. One guy even ranted about "greedy companies limiting downloads speed so that the consumers stay loner on their servers so that make more money" LOL. They have reset my router and even changed my router, however, nothing changed and it seems like neither of the parties know what the issue is. 

 

 

 

 

[Robchil]

this is probably a weakest link and congestion issue, they might have set a max bandwith for "gamelauncher" service on their firewall.  have you tried during other times of the day than you are normaly on? ..  setup teamviewer on your pc and logon and try downloading while you are at work? 

 

[Husky]

Can you try use a VPN to check if the services work fine through there? If they do, then it could be that your ISP is messing with those services, or that you have a bad route to those services.

[Anxious Hairball]

20 hours ago, Robchil said:

have you tried during other times of the day than you are normaly on? 

 

Yes I have. Another thing that my ISP does is dividing the quota in half to "daytime data" and "nighttime data" and I have tried during both day and night times. 

19 hours ago, Husky said:

Can you try use a VPN to check if the services work fine through there? If they do, then it could be that your ISP is messing with those services, or that you have a bad route to those services.

I tried using TunnelBear and downloads did become faster, up to 1-2 MB/s. However I'm not entirely sure about using VPNs with games and launchers due to region locks and bans.

[Robchil]

1 hour ago, Anxious Hairball said:

Yes I have. Another thing that my ISP does is dividing the quota in half to "daytime data" and "nighttime data" and I have tried during both day and night times. 

I tried using TunnelBear and downloads did become faster, up to 1-2 MB/s. However I'm not entirely sure about using VPNs with games and launchers due to region locks and bans.

you can use a local vpn outside your ISP.. you shouldn't get any locks or bans then 

[Anxious Hairball]

39 minutes ago, Robchil said:

you can use a local vpn outside your ISP.. you shouldn't get any locks or bans then 

I have no idea how to setup a local VPN. Can you provide a link to a tutorial or something? Thanks.

[Robchil]

just search for vpn services with location in your country/state. to avoid problems,  on google. 

all vpn service providers have easy install instructions. ofcourse.. nothing is realy for free.. 

[Anxious Hairball]

1 hour ago, Robchil said:

ofcourse.. nothing is realy for free.. 

Ah, paying another company because the first one isn't doing their job properly. Thanks for the help, I'll see if I can find a local service. At this rate I might just switch ISPs and get a fibre line to my home. 

 

[Robchil]

16 hours ago, Anxious Hairball said:

Ah, paying another company because the first one isn't doing their job properly. Thanks for the help, I'll see if I can find a local service. At this rate I might just switch ISPs and get a fibre line to my home. 

 

that's usualy the solution.... fiber to the desktop