network congestion

Network congestion occurs when too many packets are sent into a single link or node in the network. In extreme cases, it could lead to packet loss, queueing delays, or even the blocking or slowing down of new connections.

The most common cause of network congestion is the overload of one or more nodes in the network. When this happens, the network’s overall performance suffers because the bandwidth allocated to each network connection becomes limited. If this continues long enough, the entire network will eventually reach saturation and stop functioning correctly.