What is the contention ratio?

In the internet world most of us have heard of contention ration term. What is it? Why is it killing our internet? We’ll read all those matters that brainstorms in our mind.

What is the contention ratio?

In layman’s term, the contention ratio cites to how many users are sharing the overall data capacity on an internet service provider’s line. To make this even easier, it’s a count of how many households are using the same main broadband line as you.

Technically, these are the data channels which is dedicated to us using a multiplexer (sometimes contracted to muxing), it is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium.

This contention ratio affects the cost and class of internet you are getting at your home or office. More contention means affordable and useable internet, less contention will not be affordable at all but there will be assurance of the speed and uptime.

Usually a high speed internet connection is shared in ratios like 1:1 for leased line and large businesses, 1:2 ~ 1:10 for small businesses, and 1:10 ~ 1:50 for home users.

ISP can maintain any contention ratio, it is not fixed, but most of them share similarly.

Why is it killing our internet?

Contention ratio isn’t killing our internet but making things a way affordable to us. Except businesses, and corporates not everyone need superfast and 100% uptime guarantee, so ISP share those costly connection into multiple shared connections for home users.

The way you are getting the internet on your premises also a noticeable thing. If you are getting your connectivity by fiber optics then there is no negative sign of contention ratio, but if you are getting your internet via other sources like copper, satellite, or wireless then there will be some performance downsides are other mediums aren’t capable of handling as many as data channels of fiber optics.

This is all, if you have any question or query in your mind let us know in the comments.