In today’s digital world, the performance of your business’s network can significantly impact productivity, customer satisfaction, and even your bottom line. However, when issues arise, understanding the technical jargon can be overwhelming. Terms like latency, bandwidth, and throughput are often thrown around when discussing network performance, but what do they really mean? More importantly, how do they affect your business, and what can you do to improve them?
What is Latency?
Latency is the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another in a network. Imagine you’re sending an email to a colleague. The time it takes for that email to leave your computer, travel through the network, and arrive at your colleague’s inbox is the latency. In simple terms, latency is the delay you experience between a request and a response.
Low latency is crucial for real-time applications like video calls, online gaming, and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). High latency can cause noticeable delays, making conversations choppy and streaming services laggy.
How to Improve Latency:
- Optimise Your Network: Use quality network equipment, cabling and ensure that the firmware on your devices is up to date.
- Reduce Distance: If possible, minimise the physical distance between devices and servers.
- Prioritise Traffic: Implement Quality of Service (QoS) settings to prioritize critical data, like voice or video.
What is Bandwidth?
Bandwidth refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted over a network in a given amount of time. Think of it as the width of a highway—the wider the highway (higher bandwidth), the more cars (data) can travel at the same time.
High bandwidth is essential for tasks that require large amounts of data to be transferred quickly, like downloading files, streaming videos or serving a large number of users on a website. However, having high bandwidth doesn’t necessarily mean your network will be fast if other factors, like latency, are not optimised
How to Improve Bandwidth:
- Upgrade Your Plan: Ensure that your internet service plan provides enough bandwidth for your business needs.
- Optimise Usage: Schedule large downloads or backups during off-peak hours.
- Use Wired Connections: Wired connections often provide more stable bandwidth than wireless ones.
What is Throughput?
Throughput is the actual amount of data that successfully travels from the source to the destination over a network. While bandwidth is the theoretical maximum, throughput is what you’re actually getting. It’s influenced by several factors, including latency, network congestion, and packet loss.
In essence, throughput reflects the real-world performance of your network. Even with high bandwidth, if your network is congested or experiencing high latency, your throughput might be lower than expected.
How to Improve Throughput:
- Monitor Network Traffic: Regularly monitor your network to identify congestion points and optimise traffic flow.
- Upgrade Equipment: Invest in high-quality routers, switches, and cables that can handle higher throughput.
- Reduce Interference: Minimize Wi-Fi interference by positioning routers away from other electronic devices and using less congested channels.
Putting It All Together
Understanding the differences between latency, bandwidth and throughput can help you better diagnose network issues and improve overall performance. Latency impacts the speed of data transfer, bandwidth dictates the capacity of data transfer, and throughput shows the actual data transfer rate.
Optimising these three factors will ensure that your business network runs smoothly, supporting everything from video conferencing to data transfers without a hitch.
Need Help?
If you’re still unsure about how to optimize your network or need professional assistance, our team at Fusion Mobile Communications is ready to help. Whether you need a thorough network assessment or ongoing management, we’ve got you covered.
Contact us today for a free consultation or visit our enquiry page to learn more about how we can enhance your business’s network performance. Call us at 01202 835 888 or message us on WhatsApp for immediate assistance. Let’s ensure your network is working as hard as you do!
