Why do internet connections get slower as more people use them?

Question

And additionally, how does higher quality internet change that?

In: 12

Answer 1

There’s only a certain amount of “stuff” that can get through an Internet connection every second. Assume it’s 100 pieces of “stuff” every second. If person A asks for 35 pieces of stuff a second, that leaves 65 pieces of stuff remaining in the Internet connection. If persons B and C also ask for 35 pieces of stuff, that’s a request of 105 pieces of stuff per second, and the connection can only handle 100.

This results in the 5 pieces of stuff left over having to be handled in the next second, delaying the request by one second. This also results in the connection only being able to handle 95 in the next second.

Now if 10 more people request 35 every second, then you can see how there can be a lot of slow down as only 100 is being accessible to 13 people, each requesting 35 per second.