Packet loss has always been an effective indication of congestion in packet-switched networks.
This is because the application, especially the TCP protocol, attempts to transmit packets to the
maximum available bandwidth. However, media
streaming applications have an intrinsic bandwidth
requirement that is constrained by the streaming
source. This characteristic indicates that media
streaming is less likely to cause self-induced
congestion. In stead, the congestion could be crossinduced.
Cross-induced congestion means that the
increasing transmission rate by the sending source
relatively makes no impact on the ongoing
congestion. In this paper, we describe cross-induced
congestion that could happen in media streaming. We
conduct a simulation study to prove the idea. We then
discuss the implication of the study that it is possible
for the media streaming application to increase the
transmission rate (if it has a benefit) in the presence
of congestion as indicated by packet loss, if such
congestion is cross-induced.