MFS WorldCom/WilTel/LDDS

Thu Aug 29 08:49:37 UTC 1996

Dick St.Peters <stpeters at NetHeaven.com> wrote:

>> One dirty little secret is that most
>> phone calls and videoconferences ram their way past data transmissions
>> by using a bully of a communications method called UDP.  Unlike the more
>> polite Transmission Control Protocol, TCP, which drops back
>> when it detects congestion, UDP continues at full speed, elbowing
>> ahead of TCP traffic.

>Sigh, I guess you need to have part of your network shut down by the
>above-described effect to appreciate just how unusually accurate a
>portrayal that description is.

ping -f does it much better.

UDP is not bad per se.  Broken applications are.

--vadim