Broadband - Are You Content With Your Contention?

It's not a term most of us are familiar with, but the contention ratio is something that is quite important when looking for a broadband service. Taken into account with the stated top speed, it's a good indicator of how fast you can expect your connection to be.

Simply put, a contention ratio indicates how many people share your bandwidth. If your provider lists a ratio of 50:1, this means that when you're online, 49 other people are potentially competing with you for bandwidth. If some of those people are downloading mp3's or playing online games, your connection could drop quite noticeably.

A contention of 50:1 is the standard for home internet, and can usually provide a reasonably fast connection. Most businesses opt for a slightly lower contention of 20:1, and ratios of 1:1 are not unheard of.

Of course, just because broadband providers list a contention of 50:1 doesn't mean that all 50 people will be online at the same time. People have different requirements for the internet, and varying times they like to be online. Some never download anything but are quite content to sit and surf, so they don't use much of the available bandwidth at all.

If you're unsure what your current ratio is, ask your provider or check on their website. It may be that you have been having trouble with a slow connection and this could be the problem. If so, look around for a cheap broadband package with a lower contention rate. Broadband is meant to be fast. If you are only experiencing dial-up speeds with a broadband modem, investigate it. There could be a simple solution.

Want broadband? Find cheap broadband by comparing broadband providers online.

J Tillotson is a UK author specialising in technology and communications.

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