Time Warner is a cable-only Internet Service Provider (ISP) that is a part of the second biggest telecommunications company is the U.S. Previously known as Road Runner, the company has a tendency to highly categorize and regulate the quality of the internet its customers can get. While some are without a doubt justified, there are concepts in the U.S. – such as the country’s laws’ definition of copyright infringement – that even makes otherwise harmless internet activity impossible. This article is going to discuss related history and also how any existing and potential restriction can be bypassed with the help of the most effective and safest online access service today: VPN.
Sadly, Time Warner has a history of throttling. It must be noted that this was (and is) not done in the general sense: you do not get constant slow speeds. Instead, only certain and similar websites like YouTube, Netflix, Vevo, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video are the ones affected. As with numerous other ISPs, this is probably done on the basis of the Acceptable Use Policy’s vague wording. Time Warner makes it clear that the services “… may not be used to engage in any conduct that interferes with TWC’s ability to provide service to others, including the use of excessive bandwidth.” The expression “excessive use of bandwidth” is not clarified in actual numbers, effectively creating an environment for customers where they are indirectly pressured into the least resource-taxing internet activities. In our opinion, this is not a treatment that corresponds to a free internet. As you will read below, VPN services on the other hand are gateways to less and less online restrictions.
The bad news is that Time Warner is not exactly a VPN-friendly ISP. For example, there are generally problems with the ISP if you try to log in to their system from abroad with the help of a VPN (you cannot otherwise, Time Warner is a U.S.-only service). The VPN company Private Internet Access experiences IP blocks from several ISPs, and this one is no exception. Also, Time Warner reserves the right to restrict your internet activities, such as denying access to websites and sending e-mail messages if they judge you did not abide to their policies. However, just because the general circumstances do not favor VPN, it does not mean that it is unusable for Time Warner customers.
Our general tip is that you should refrain from trying to access your account from abroad with the help of a VPN. If you reside in a state that the ISP does not support (Time Warner serves 29 of them), then you should run into less problems (if any), since you try to go online from the U.S. territory. Puerto Rico could also be a safe bet in this matter.
A VPN’s main tool to ensure a safe and hidden connection is via encryptions. These security protocols envelop your regular data traffic in another layer of protective data, thus concealing your online identity. We suggest you use the OpenVPN and L2TP types for connections, and to refrain from the unsafe PPTP.
Since Time Warner has a history of throttling streaming websites, we are going to present an alternative type of service that is focused on providing better access to these specifically. Smart DNS companies provide an extended list of entertainment websites that can be accessed if you temporarily change the DNS address of your device to one that they provide to you. Unlike encrypted networks, smart DNS connections do not suffer from speed loss, though they do lack shielding properties as a result. All in all, we suggest using both VPN and smart DNS from inside the USA – the former for general access and the latter for accessing streaming content in better quality.
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