Certain areas of the country, known as hot spots, are suffering congestion as both new and existing users vie for an expanding number of resources on the Internet. These hot spots are caused by heavy use of telephone lines that support cross-country networks, including MCINet.
Hot spots act like traffic jams, slowing down the flow of data from one place to another.
Merit Network Inc. Ogden said that while there are no hot spots in Michigan or the Midwest, high concentrations of users in states like California cause congestion. Because the Internet is decentralized, a hot spot can affect any user accessing information in that area of the country. Although users may not notice their information is being routed through a hot spot area, many network connections are tied through these high traffic sites. I think as we wait longer those number of hot spots is going to grow. Hollmann said the University is not experiencing network slowdowns on campus like the slowdowns on the rest of the Internet.