Slow data unless using VPN - throttling?

Hi ​@Radialhead,

Thanks for getting in touch, and I’m sorry to hear you’ve been experiencing slower data speeds recently.

We can appreciate why this would be concerning, especially if speeds appear to improve significantly when connected through a VPN. While we’re unable to confirm throttling from here on the community, differences in routing, network congestion, or device/network settings can sometimes affect speed test results depending on how traffic is being handled.

As a first step, we’d recommend trying a full network reset and refreshing your mobile connection on both devices.

For iPhone:

• Go to Settings
• Tap General
• Select Transfer or Reset iPhone
• Tap Reset
• Choose Reset Network Settings

Your phone will restart afterwards.

For Android: (Steps may vary slightly depending on device model)

• Go to Settings
• Tap General Management or System
• Select Reset
• Tap Reset Network Settings
• Confirm the reset

We’d also recommend:

• Restarting the device afterwards
• Turning 5G off temporarily and testing on 4G only
• Removing and reinserting the SIM
• Testing speeds in different locations and at different times of day
• Ensuring your device software is fully up to date

If possible, it may also help to compare speeds with and without any VPN active after the network reset to see whether the behaviour continues.

Should the issue persist across both SIMs after trying the above, we’d recommend contacting our Live Chat team so they can investigate the connection further: https://www.idmobile.co.uk/live-chat 

Regards,

Gemma M

The iD Mobile Social Media Team