T*Mobile (US) throttles the speed on tethered devices (with unlimited 5G data plan).
I have read a couple of sources that say that running a VPN on the iOS device and then connect via hotspot will mask that desktop device and therefore not throttle the speed.
However using a VPN on the iOS device and running a speed test I get 40+Mbps, but running the same test on the Mac right after I am only getting <1Mbps.
Does anybody have any insight as to why this might be?
Whatever you read about a VPN preventing ISP throttling is incorrect, a VPN does not stop an ISP from throttling your connection.
It goes Device > ISP > VPN > Website/End-Point > VPN > ISP > Device, nothing you can do to prevent throttling, suggest supporting Net Neutrality
Correction;
Device > VPN Client > ISP > VPN Server
I have a similar but opposite thing going on, once I hit the data limit I can only get 128kbps (as in the contract)
But when I use the hotspot I’ll still get full speed on that tethered device
Let me set this straight for OP. What wireless carrier do you have and what is the name of the plan they your on?
Not necessarily true. If the ISP is imposing QoS to determine what type of data is being transmitted or destination and throttle accordingly then a VPN can bypass that as the would be hidden in the encryption tunnel. However if they’re just throttling based on total data transmitted then yes a VPN wouldn’t help. However the OP’s hotspot connection may not even be going through the VPN on the iOS device unless it’s jail broken to specifically allow that. On Android you can’t use the VPN on a phone through hotspot unless that Android device is rooted and you’re using software to specifically create a VPN Hotspot to route the hotspot connection through the VPN on the phone.
I’m going to stop ya. It’s Device > VPN client > ISP > VPN server. Otherwise there would not be a reason for a VPN client. The VPN wraps your data. Oh, and then MITM attacks would work also.
These are the sources:
https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/t-mobile-throttling-bypass/
https://www.groovypost.com/howto/hide-data-usage-get-truly-unlimited-tethering-tmobile-one/
I don’t understand how your chain that your provide is related to this.
I assume the ISP can only know what “Device” i am using by reading the user agent data - so if i use a VPN on my cellphone, how does the ISP see the user agent?
Your ISP doesn’t see what you’re doing however they see how much you’re using and on a VPN encryption uses even more bandwidth. Your ISP is who you contact to access the internet they control how much bandwidth you use and have nothing you can do about it.
I don’t understand how the chain you provided is related
It’s related because your ISP is who your devices contact for access to the internet, without them you would have no internet connection.
Those articles are full of misinformation i wouldn’t rely on them.