Shaping vs. throttling?

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atomcrusher

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In a recent MyBB article re: other ISPs responding to Telkoms uncapped offerings, the article stated this sentence ..
Differences such as Telkom throttling the user but not shaping traffic and MWEB only shaping traffic, not throttling traffic
Click to expand...

Can someone explain to me, in non-tech-speak, the definitions / meanings of "shaping" vs. "throttling" .. i.e. how do these actions differ?
 
Shaping is selectively reducing speed on what you do on the internet, such as torrent downloads (e.g. heavily shaped), Rapidshare downloads (shaped), and application downloads (slightly shaped).

Throttling usually means they've seen you use a lot of data, say over their allocated limit for your line and then the ISP reduces speed for a period (I.S. bandwidth uses this concept). Usually you get unshaped data at normal speed until they decide to throttle.

The effect is the same = slow downloads. Often simple browsing is unaffected.
 
There is 1 massive difference. Shaping reduces the speed of things like downloads only while throttling reduces the speed of EVERYTHING not just downloads.

Generally an isp will only use one or the other. In terms of impact shaping is usually preferred as it doesn't affect what you do while you are actually during in front of your pc.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using MyBroadband Android App
 
In non tech terms lets relate it to the highways.

Shaping would be like restricting the times that trucks are allowed on as they slow everyone down and cause traffic jams.

Throttling is like reducing the overall speed limit for everyone so that the trucks are not disadvantaged.

In this analogy the cars would be things like browsing while the trucks are like torrents etc.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using MyBroadband Android App
 
Shayd said:
In non tech terms lets relate it to the highways.

Shaping would be like restricting the times that trucks are allowed on as they slow everyone down and cause traffic jams.

Throttling is like reducing the overall speed limit for everyone so that the trucks are not disadvantaged.

In this analogy the cars would be things like browsing while the trucks are like torrents etc.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using MyBroadband Android App
Click to expand...

Trucks are torrents and cars are browsing.

Shaping means during peak hours of the day all your trucks are forced to drive in the slow lane while your cars are allowed to still drive in the fast lane.

Throttling means during peak times both your cars and trucks are forced to drive in the slow lane.
 
these days they're almost the same in respect that both are used to limit the potential of the connection. whereas throttling would be an absolute, shaping could be very specific and also dynamic even up to the point that somethings preform at their full.
i hear they call it 'protocol prioritization' now
 
Ultimately both aren't great but they are better than caps. Personally I don't mind downloads being shaped, it ensures a good quality network for everyone

Throttling blows, I paid for 4 meg and I expect to get it not some arbitrary value below it.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using MyBroadband Android App
 
TheGuy said:
Trucks are torrents and cars are browsing.

Shaping means during peak hours of the day all your trucks are forced to drive in the slow lane while your cars are allowed to still drive in the fast lane.

Throttling means during peak times both your cars and trucks are forced to drive in the slow lane.
Click to expand...

Makes sense
 
atomcrusher said:
In a recent MyBB article re: other ISPs responding to Telkoms uncapped offerings, the article stated this sentence ..


Can someone explain to me, in non-tech-speak, the definitions / meanings of "shaping" vs. "throttling" .. i.e. how do these actions differ?
Click to expand...

Shaping makes 1 specific protocal slow, like torrents, throttling makes your whole line slow, even if you're just sending an email.
 
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