Congestive collapse

Congestive collapse

Congestive collapse (or congestion collapse) is the condition in which congestion prevents or limits useful communication. Congestion collapse generally occurs at choke points in the network, where incoming traffic exceeds outgoing bandwidth. Connection points between a local area network and a wide area network are common choke points. When a network is in this condition, it settles into a stable state where traffic demand is high but little useful throughput is available, during which packet delay and loss occur and quality of service is extremely poor.