Slow internet is something that annoys people and nobody wants a slow internet that disturbs their work, business or social interaction. As most of you are paying for a fast internet connection, slowing down the internet speed affects both your mood and your internet activity badly.
There could be many reasons for slowing down your NBN internet connection and one of them is network congestion. But before you go on to solve a problem such as a network congestion, you need to know what it means.
What is network congestion?
Most of you may have experienced traffic jam at least once in your life. You all know that one of the major reason for a traffic jam is too many vehicle or traffic. A traffic jam mostly happens in peak hours while everyone is out on the road. Network congestion happens the same way.
When too many of the same NBN users use the same nbn plans at the same time, network congestion happens.
When does network congestion happen?
Well, it is hard to find any specific time when network congestion happens. However, internet connection tends to slow down mostly on the evening and slows down even more on the night.
Why network congestion happen?
At it was elaborated earlier, network congestion is almost relatable to the traffic jam. Just as a traffic jam happens because of too many vehicles, network congestions happen when too many same NBN plan users use the internet.
Most of the user tends to jump online to stream, surf, download or to do many more different online activities on the evening or night. That is why network congestion happens and causes your internet connection to slow down. It happens because internet service providers buy access to NBN in bulk.
At first, they measure a certain area and then calculates how much bandwidth they will require to provide NBN service in that area.
If you are not familiar with ‘bandwidth’, let me tell you it means the speed capacity of the internet. The more badwidth you are allowed, the more internet speed you will enjoy.
Think of bandwidth like the width of the road. How many cars will be able to travel depends on how big is a road. If the road is narrow, fewer cars will be able to pass. The same thing happens with bandwidth. When too many users are sharing bandwidth among them, their internet performance takes a hit.
How much NBN connections slow down at peak hours?
Well, this does not have any specific answer, it varies from provider to provider. However, ACCC’s statistics show that basic NBN plan users experience down to 7 Mbps evening internet speed while their maximum speed is said to be 12 Mbps. Standard users experience 15 Mbps evening internet speed while their maximum speed is said to be 25 Mbps. In addition, Standard plus plan users and premium plan users experience 30 and 60 Mbps evening internet speed while their maximum speed is said to be up to 50 and 100 Mbps.
Seems like a significant slowing down right? Well, the good news is that every NBN connection does not slow down by this much and some connections do not even get affected. However, if it is still an issue to you, keep reading for the solution.
Solution: Change your service provider
The best way to remain unaffected by network congestion is by choosing a new carrier.
When you are making a switch, It is wise to choose a no-contract NBN plan since you want to keep your freedom of choosing another if you do not like your selected provider.
The reason you need to this is that the ACCC rules and recommendations now requires all NBN providers to be clear about the service they provide. In addition, each provider has to disclose the peak hour speeds(commonly known as “evening speed”) which their users will face. That is why many NBN providers in Australia have already improved their evening internet speed.
However, making a switch does not guarantee that you will get higher internet speed. There could be other technological or area limitation reasons that are affecting your NBN connection to slow down your internet speed. But if it’s only network congestion which is resulting internet speed drops, changing your internet provider is a smart decision.