What is the Contention Ratio / Congestion Factor?
Satellite connections don’t have “Contention Ratios” in the same way as terrestrial connections. On our system, all terminals are connected to the same hub which is directly connected to the internet backbone. This is not directly comparable with the number of users connected to a local exchange node.
As with any internet service, speeds can be affected both by congestion (loading) on the internet itself or the particular site you are visiting as well as the loading on the satellite system.
There is no way to measure the congestion on the whole internet or the load on the site server you are visiting but we can give an indication of the Congestion Factor for the satellite connection itself.
Remember, this “up to” maximum speed only applies to the connection from your satmodem to the internet backbone. The overall speed you see depends on many other factors as well. We can’t measure or report on what’s happening on your network or the wider internet.
Congestion Factor is likely to be higher during the peak hours of 5pm – 10pm weekdays and 10am – 10pm weekends. Heavy internet congestion (e.g. due to large software updates) can also cause congestion and slower overall speeds.