Network Choking or congestion happens when a particular device in the network is unable to accept the amount of incoming packets from other device in the network. Generally, network choking happens due to the following reasons:
Devices with different bandwidth capacities in network
For example, if a network is having a 100 Mbps switch, but few PCs connected to it are operating on 10 Mbps lan card. The PCs may not be able to accept the data packets sent by switch at 100 Mbps speed. The data packets are held by the switch till all the data packets are transferred to the PC. Meanwhile data packets from other devices add up into the existing queue of the switch. This ends up in entire network choking.
ISP data loss
As per the same example above, if an ISP is providing bandwidth of 100 Mbps but the network router is of only 64 Mbps capacity, it may end up in network choking.
Network cables also causes network choking
A network with Gigabyte switches and cables with lesser data transfer rate (for example: cat5 cables can handle only 100 Mbps transfer rate), also results in choking.
Improper settings of devices in network
Improper configuration of network adapters or switch ports (managed switches) can cause network choking.
Some other possible reasons include bad network adapter, bad switch (on your end or your ISP’s end) or malware in the network.
