subject: Overloading Your Network [print this page] Many people wonder why their internet runs so slowly. There are many reasons, but if you have a good internet connection, chances are you have too many connections running through your router. This article will talk about these connections and how to avoid network overloads.
The number of connections that a router can handle will depend on the quality. The best router will let you have up to 253 connections. This doesn't mean that your network won't slow down because it will. It just means that there are 253 connections allowed.
If you're wondering what a connection is, it's pretty simple to explain. A connection is anything that needs to be loaded from the internet. Some examples of connections are ads, videos, pictures, and instant messaging.
It's important to understand that a single webpage may count as multiple connections. It will obviously have its dot com to load, but it may also have a video or image on the page that requires loading as well. Sometimes the majority of the connections come from internet ads. Each ad can count as a single connection.
Networks are made to handle multiple computers but the more computers on the network means more total connections. Too many computers may cause "bottlenecking" which is basically an overload of connections. If you only have a couple computers on your network, you will probably never encounter this.
If this is an issue for you, there are many things you can do to decrease your connections or increase your capacity. To increase the capacity, you will need a better router. You can also just get an additional one and create a separate network.
If you don't want to go that route, you will need to decrease the connections that are being sent at one time. This can be done by staggering your traffic throughout different times of the day. You can also make sure you close unnecessary browsers and windows and even entire computers that aren't being used.
Most people don't experience network problems from too many connections. Those who do can usually solve it with a few simple tricks. Networks are meant to handle multiple connections and if you are fairly organized with these connections, you won't have to worry.
