Define bandwidth versus throughput in networking.

Define bandwidth versus throughput in networking.

• A. Bandwidth is the actual data rate achieved; throughput is the maximum possible.
• B. Throughput is the maximum theoretical data rate.
• C. Bandwidth is the maximum data rate of a link; throughput is the actual achieved data rate.
• D. Bandwidth and throughput are the same concept.

Answer: (C)

Bandwidth represents the capacity of a network link—the maximum data rate it could carry under ideal conditions. Throughput is the actual rate at which useful data is delivered to the destination, after accounting for overhead, retransmissions, and network congestion. In practice, throughput is usually lower than bandwidth because headers, framing, acknowledgments, error checking, and protocol inefficiencies eat into the available capacity. The two are related by the inequality throughput ≤ bandwidth. For example, a 1 Gbps link (bandwidth) might deliver around 800 Mbps of useful payload in real use due to TCP overhead and congestion, illustrating the difference between what the link can carry and what actually gets through. The option that treats bandwidth as the actual data rate or throughput as the maximum theoretical rate, or that says they are the same, doesn't fit because those describe different realities: capacity versus actual performance.

Bandwidth represents the capacity of a network link—the maximum data rate it could carry under ideal conditions. Throughput is the actual rate at which useful data is delivered to the destination, after accounting for overhead, retransmissions, and network congestion. In practice, throughput is usually lower than bandwidth because headers, framing, acknowledgments, error checking, and protocol inefficiencies eat into the available capacity. The two are related by the inequality throughput ≤ bandwidth.

For example, a 1 Gbps link (bandwidth) might deliver around 800 Mbps of useful payload in real use due to TCP overhead and congestion, illustrating the difference between what the link can carry and what actually gets through. The option that treats bandwidth as the actual data rate or throughput as the maximum theoretical rate, or that says they are the same, doesn't fit because those describe different realities: capacity versus actual performance.