This sounds like a fundamental misunderstanding of most of the IP stack. The way TCP works is that bandwidth over consumption is signaled by dropping packets. B

This sounds like a fundamental misunderstanding of most of the IP stack. The way TCP works is that bandwidth over consumption is signaled by dropping packets. Back in the mid 2000s "deep packet inspection" was the buzzword of the day, but frankly was mostly BS because you can't inspect encrypted traffic. So what happens, is that the traffic shaping is chosen by endpoint/route. Which means that the ISP might prioritize VOIP calls which terminate in their VOIP service, but they likely won't be able to detect my tunneled VOIP packets utilizing a small no name service that charges $2 a month (my ISP wants to charge/bundle the voice service for an additional $15-25/month depending on which "deal" you get). The problems here come from ISP's that won't upgrade their infrastructure to support the demand, because they are trying to maximize profits, and see advantages to being able to charge/extort fees from actors they think can afford it (netflix for example) or they feel are competing with their own offerings.