And once a transmission is in progress, if it starts to falter again that’s likely to be because some new connection is competing for the network. The most conservative assessment of that situation—namely, assuming you were the only person using the network and now there’s a second person taking half the resources—also leads to cutting back by half. Conservatism here is essential: a network can stabilize only if its users pull back at least as fast as the rate at which it is being overloaded.
