What method allows two devices to ensure that packets are not dropped because too much data is being sent too quickly?

• A. encapsulation
• B. flow control
• C. access method
• D. response timeout

Answer: (B)

Flow control is the mechanism that coordinates the rate of data transmission between two devices so the receiving side can process what’s arriving. When the receiver can’t keep up, it signals the sender to pause or slow down, preventing buffer overflow and dropped packets. This keeps data from being lost when a sender pushes data faster than the receiver can handle. For example, Ethernet can use PAUSE frames to temporarily stop transmissions, while TCP uses a sliding window to regulate how much data can be in flight. Encapsulation wraps data for transmission between layers, an access method defines how devices share the medium, and a response timeout is about waiting for a reply, not managing the data rate.