topic Tethered file download speed throttling in Mobility

Tethered file download speed throttling

JohnnyTechNerd — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:00:35 GMT

I connected my Samsung S22+ to my Windows 11 computer via USB C cable in order to use my mobile data connection.

The connection sets up fine - I can browse the internet no problem.

Where I ran into trouble is downloading a 500 Mbyte file from a software vendor web site. Initially, the file was downloading at an OK speed of 5 to 6 Mbps per my browser. However, once the download had completed 250 Mbytes, the speed started dropping off dramatically as if the speed was being artificially limited (or throttled as us tech nerds would say).

I tried a couple of different software vendor web sites with similar results.

Has anyone else noticed this behaviour?

Re: Tethered file download speed throttling

VirginPlusKris — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:06:01 GMT

Good morning, @JohnnyTechNerd. Thanks for reaching out.

While most plans are by default limited to a 150 Mbps download speed, there's not a specific cutoff for when throttling or any other similar case would kick in after a set amount of usage.

To confirm, you're having these issues when downloading on your laptop specifically when using your phone as a hotspot? If you try downloading specifically on your phone while on data as opposed to on the laptop, do you experience the same slowdown? Are you able to test on any other system aside from the laptop in question?

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

— Kris

Re: Tethered file download speed throttling

JohnnyTechNerd — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:11:44 GMT

Hi Kris

I have tried this with two different computers: one being my laptop and the other being a desktop. In both cases, I connected to the computer using a USB C cable so I was "tethering" rather than using the Hot Spot feature per se.

I haven't tried a large download just with the phone (and I probably wouldn't ordinarily download large files to my phone anyway). I can't see it would make much difference given that the phone is still what is connected to the internet right? The only difference is that there is no transit of the data across the USB cable if I just download to the phone.

Re: Tethered file download speed throttling

VirginPlusKris — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:38:36 GMT

Thanks for the quick response, @JohnnyTechNerd.

Testing download speeds with your phone would be helpful in determining where exactly in the chain the issue is. If no speed issues occur from your phone, it would suggest an issue with hotspotting specifically. If the speed issue persists, it would suggest a more general issue with your mobile data connection as a whole. It would be helpful for us to narrow down where to be investigating.

— Kris