Question Curious about the "science" of disconnecting

[bevenomous]

Hey all,

I'm a computer nerd, but, admittedly, I don't know very much about networking and internet connections. Nor do I know anything about how bandwidth is distributed among applications and how applications may be connected to one another. I recently experienced server issues in a game leading to disconnection. Interestingly, disconnecting from the game also disconnected me from chat applications (Discord and Xbox app). So, I have two questions, for the sake of knowing more about how my computer uses internet: 1) Why does disconnecting from a game temporarily disconnect me from Discord or the Xbox app, but twitch and Spotify continue to stream without interruption? 2) How is my internet connection, I suppose my bandwidth, distributed to my applications and are some applications linked to one another via a shared internet connection? Again, I'm just looking to learn more about how a PC uses internet to power its applications for my own understanding. Thanks!

 

[kanewolf]

Hey all,

I'm a computer nerd, but, admittedly, I don't know very much about networking and internet connections. Nor do I know anything about how bandwidth is distributed among applications and how applications may be connected to one another. I recently experienced server issues in a game leading to disconnection. Interestingly, disconnecting from the game also disconnected me from chat applications (Discord and Xbox app). So, I have two questions, for the sake of knowing more about how my computer uses internet: 1) Why does disconnecting from a game temporarily disconnect me from Discord or the Xbox app, but twitch and Spotify continue to stream without interruption? 2) How is my internet connection, I suppose my bandwidth, distributed to my applications and are some applications linked to one another via a shared internet connection? Again, I'm just looking to learn more about how a PC uses internet to power its applications for my own understanding. Thanks!

Every application assumes it has unlimited bandwidth unless it is explicitly told otherwise. Each app sends or receives data as fast as possible. The hardware then slows things down to the physical constraints. It does this by buffering, requiring handshakes for transfers, etc.

 

[bevenomous]

Every application assumes it has unlimited bandwidth unless it is explicitly told otherwise. Each app sends or receives data as fast as possible. The hardware then slows things down to the physical constraints. It does this by buffering, requiring handshakes for transfers, etc.

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. So why would disconnecting from a PC game cause Discord to also disconnect, but not impact Google Chrome and Spotify's connection to the internet?

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. So why would disconnecting from a PC game cause Discord to also disconnect, but not impact Google Chrome and Spotify's connection to the internet?

I am not a gamer or a discord user so I can't help you with those things...