Most businesses depend heavily on their computer network. If it starts to slow down it causes delays, as well as user frustration. If it crashes altogether, it’s even more disruptive and annoying. Slow speeds can be a sign that your network is overloaded, and you can probably expect frequent crashes if the congestion isn’t dealt with. Here’s how to fix network congestion problems.
About Network Congestion
The data that flows along your network connections is just like traffic on the freeway. And, just like a road system, with too much of it everything slows down and finally comes to a grinding halt. Every task you do on your network, from word processing to downloading videos or using Wi-Fi, generates more traffic.
Just like roads, your network is designed to deal with a finite amount of traffic. Exceed that maximum and you’re heading for trouble. Every new device added to the network creates more traffic, with the extra processing burden potentially resulting in congestion and bottlenecks. And, just like rush hour traffic on the roads, there’s a risk of everything simply stopping.
You may experience a bottleneck if you’ve been using your network for tasks that need more processing power, like video conferencing, but it recovers when you revert to normal intensity usage. It might be a temporary problem, but it still means that your network capacity has reached its limit.
Causes of Network Congestion
Lots of things can clog up your network, but these are some of the most common reasons:
- Too many people using the network at the same time.
- Performing tasks that are data heavy, like video conferencing, VoIP calls, streaming video or downloading large files.
- Viruses, malware, spyware, worms and other cyber threats
- Problems with hardware on your network.
- DDos (distributed denial of service) attacks
Fixing a Congested Network
You need to upgrade your network as and when the load it has to carry increases. It could be that you have more devices and more users accessing your network, or maybe you’ve switched to a VoIP phone system. The extra traffic means that your system needs increased network capacity to deal with it. More intensive use of your network also means that you should review and upgrade your network security.
How We Can Help
Quikteks offers a free consultation and network assessment. Here’s what we’ll do:
- • Check your network for network congestion and recommend optimization strategies and upgrades.
- • Ensure that your network capacity is fit for purpose, and prepared for any increased use going forward.
- • Propose appropriate security measures to ensure protection against cyberattacks.
Give Quikteks a call at (973) 882-4644 to schedule your network consultation.