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What is a "best effort" protocol well suited for streaming audio and VoIP?

a) TCP
b) IP
c) UDP
d) SSH

User Mosbah
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

A 'best effort' protocol, typically UDP, is well-suited for streaming audio and VoIP, as it provides speedy, efficient delivery without guarantees on delivery or order which is crucial for real-time communication. SSH is not a best effort protocol but a secure network protocol and is not used for VoIP. The immediacy required by audio and VoIP services benefits more from UDP's lack of delays than the occasional data loss.

Step-by-step explanation:

The term "best effort" protocol refers to a class of protocols in network communications that do not provide guarantees on delivery, order, or quality of service. A classic example of a best effort protocol is the Internet Protocol (IP). It is important to note that Secure Shell (SSH) mentioned as an option in the question is not a best effort protocol; instead, it's a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network.

When it comes to streaming audio and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a protocol well-suited for this purpose is the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). UDP is commonly used for applications that require fast, efficient delivery, such as streaming audio and video, games, and VoIP. The real-time nature of these applications means that they often cannot tolerate the delays that retransmitting lost packets would entail, which is why the best effort nature of UDP is ideal here.

It may seem counterintuitive that a protocol that does not guarantee delivery is suited for applications like VoIP, but real-time communication usually benefits more from having no delay than it suffers from the occasional loss of data. The reason is that retransmitting data in a real-time audio or video conversation would not only be too late to be useful but would also create additional delays for the rest of the communication. Therefore, protocols like TCP, which provide guaranteed delivery and correct order through retransmissions and acknowledgements, are not used for these kinds of applications.

User Jim Kennedy
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