Bandwidth-limited
Describing a system, device, or process where the rate of data transfer is restricted by the available bandwidth. Bandwidth represents the capacity of a communication channel to transmit data. When a system is bandwidth-limited, it means the maximum rate at which data can be transferred is reached, often impeding performance. This bottleneck can be due to physical limitations like network speed, or software constraints. The overall effect is reduced speed, increased latency, and potential performance degradation. Factors like signal interference, network congestion, and hardware specifications contribute to bandwidth limitations.
Bandwidth-limited meaning with examples
- Streaming a 4K video on your home Wi-Fi might become bandwidth-limited if multiple devices are simultaneously using the network. The combined demand exhausts the bandwidth, resulting in buffering and lower video quality. This clearly demonstrates how competing for available bandwidth creates an obstacle.
- The old dial-up modem connection was severely bandwidth-limited compared to modern broadband. Downloading even small files was a painfully slow process because of the meager bandwidth available for data transfer over the telephone lines. It's an excellent example of a physical constraint.
- During peak hours, a congested cellular network often becomes bandwidth-limited. Many users simultaneously trying to access the internet causes a bottleneck. Websites load slowly, and applications may become unresponsive as the available bandwidth is shared. Network congestion severely decreases bandwidth available.
- Consider a server handling a large number of concurrent requests. If the server's network connection is insufficient to support the total data transfer, the system becomes bandwidth-limited, leading to longer response times and possible request failures. The server is not strong enough to handle the load.
- A virtual machine hosted on a server might be bandwidth-limited by the physical network connection of the host machine. Even with powerful internal resources, data transfer to and from the virtual machine can be throttled by the network connection. The VM would be slower than its full potential
