Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Practice Exam

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Frame Relay?

1. Connection-oriented

2. Packet-switching technology

3. Variable length packets

4. Reliability through acknowledgments

The correct answer is: Reliability through acknowledgments

Frame Relay is a packet-switched networking technology that was widely used for connecting LANs and WANs. It operates at the data link layer of the OSI model and has several key characteristics. The technology is connection-oriented, meaning that it establishes a virtual circuit between the endpoints before transmitting data. This ensures that the data follows a predetermined path, which helps in managing the traffic flow. Frame Relay uses variable-length packets, allowing it to efficiently utilize bandwidth by accommodating different packet sizes. This flexibility is an important aspect that contributes to its effectiveness in data transmission. While it is a packet-switching technology, it does not provide reliability through acknowledgments. Frame Relay is designed to prioritize speed and efficiency rather than ensuring that every packet is successfully acknowledged. This lack of built-in reliability is a deliberate aspect of its design, as applications utilizing Frame Relay are expected to implement their own error recovery and acknowledgments if necessary. Thus, the characteristic that is NOT associated with Frame Relay is the provision of reliability through acknowledgments, which distinguishes it from other networking technologies that include error-checking mechanisms.