… If you’re noticing slowdowns while online, the culprit could be “bandwidth shaping.” Most ISPs don’t like to talk about it, but it’s the most recent method to deal with the masses of people who use a lot of bandwidth during peak periods.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2007-06-28-isp-bandwidth-throttle_N.htm
Internet services throttle user bandwidth
If you’re noticing slowdowns while online, the culprit could be “bandwidth shaping.” Most ISPs don’t like to talk about it, but it’s the most recent method to deal with the masses of people who use a lot of bandwidth during peak periods.