Understanding Bandwidth and Latency’s Role in Network Stability

Man using his laptop

A stable Internet connection is crucial to the functions of all modern enterprises, especially those that do many jobs in the cloud. Both good bandwidth and low latency play a key role in determining the stability of a network.

Connectivity is the lifeblood of today’s modern enterprise. Operations that depend on cloud computing would demand constant, uninterrupted connection to both the internet and the internal networks. Vital business functions—especially those reliant on being online at all times—depend on Internet connectivity remaining stable throughout.

A stable and continuous connection can make or break your business, especially if you derive a portion of your sales from online and mobile platforms. Website outages can be damaging to a company that provides services or offers sales online. For e-commerce enterprises, a slow-loading website may be off-putting and inconvenient for customers for

Although the occasional lag or interruption may be unavoidable, companies can work toward minimizing downtimes and delays to reduce the impact they have on their customers. Local-managed IT services can help businesses in Phoenix, AZ, and other major centers of commerce keep their connections stable and address downtime on time.

The Need for Bandwidth

Most of the discussion surrounding network speeds is usually centered on bandwidth—the amount of data that is transmitted at any given time. Without a doubt, bandwidth is a crucial consideration for most enterprises. High bandwidth allows companies to support rich media content on their websites, handle large influxes of web traffic to their online stores, and facilitate the transfer of a large volume of files regularly.

Bandwidth has its limits, and companies that handle exceptionally large volumes of data often forego bandwidth altogether in favor of physically transporting files, especially when dealing with transfers over large distances. Superlative bandwidth, however, can keep most file transfers up and running with little fuss.

Exceeding bandwidth can come at inopportune times for a business. Having protocols in place to minimize and address bandwidth challenges is the key to minimizing the impact of exceeding bandwidth.

Latency and its Consequences

Referring to the internal delays that take place within the network, latency in excess can create communication bottlenecks across the network, crippling its ability to perform considerably.

In addition, modern businesses today are especially vulnerable to latency due to their increasing dependence on cloud solutions. Systems with high latency would end up communicating inefficiently with cloud applications, increasing the number of input mistakes and reducing employee efficiency and productivity.

Ideally, systems should be kept at low latency. Preventing latency often involves addressing one or more of its many causes, among them insufficient quality of service, suboptimal routing, and low computer memory. Latency is also more frequent on Wi-Fi than wire-based connections.

Identifying the Issue

Woman using her laptop

Not every connection stability or problem is tied to bandwidth. Unaddressed latency can undercut this performance of a system with otherwise high bandwidths. A thorough examination of the sources of potential latency is a key step toward ensuring the speed and efficiency of an internal network.

A speed test can often reveal whether the problem is in the capacity of the bandwidth or in some other factor that causes latency within the system. Not all performance solutions lead to a trade-off that’s favorable for a company in the long run; cutting back on underutilized links, for instance, can alleviate much of the latency in a system by removing their drain on the bandwidth.

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