Packet Switching

Description

Packet Switching involves virtual wires/routes. This will partition the bandwidth between a set of hosts/applications. Virtual "End to End" wire. Dumb network with smart endpoints.

Example

Gaming, email, and web traffic can all share the bandwidth.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Resources are not wasted. All hosts can communicate semi-constantly. Routes can change dynamically; this allows faster connections to take over and further reliability.

Cons: Out of order delivery(Packets may take different routes). No guarantee for bandwidth because it is shared.

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