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LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
LEARN ✦ BUILD ✦ INNOVATE ✦ DISCOVER ✦ CREATE ✦
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Network Congestion

Average delay vs load — 1 / (1 − ρ)
Utilization ρ
50%
Delay factor
2.0×
vs an empty link
Avg in queue
1.0
packets (0 now)

Network Congestion Simulator — Why Delay Explodes Near Full Load

Push traffic toward a link's capacity and the waiting doesn't grow gently — it explodes. This simulator plots the classic delay curve, 1/(1−ρ), and animates the growing queue as you raise the offered load. You'll see why a link is never safely run at full capacity and why congestion is the failure mode of the statistical multiplexing that makes packet switching efficient — the closing lesson of the NET DIVE series.

What you can do in this simulation

  • Drag the offered-load slider and watch the delay curve respond
  • See the delay marker climb the 1/(1−ρ) curve toward infinity
  • Watch the packet queue grow as utilization rises
  • Read the delay factor and average queue length at any load
  • Understand why real networks keep headroom below 100% utilization

Concepts covered

network congestion · queueing delay · utilization · M/M/1 queue · throughput · statistical multiplexing · networking fundamentals

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