Many key algorithms designed to control network congestion latency are inherently flawed, and unfair congestion control becomes inevitable , leaving some users with all the bandwidth and others with nothing, a new study finds. Congestion control algorithms rely on information such as packet loss and delay to infer congestion and determine the speed at which data is sent. However, due to the complexity of real-world network paths, packets will be lost and delayed due to factors other than congestion. This delay not caused by congestion is called jitter. Algorithms cannot tell the difference between jitter and delay caused by congestion, and delay caused by jitter is unpredictable. This creates a phenomenon known as “starvation” – there will always be people who cannot get bandwidth due to unfair congestion control algorithms. The researchers tested all known congestion control algorithms, as well as devised new ones, and found that this phenomenon is unavoidable and that new strategies are needed to avoid starvation.
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