What OSI physical layer term describes the measure of usable data transferred over a given period of time?

• A. fiber-optic cable
• B. air
• C. goodput
• D. copper cable

Answer: (C)

Goodput is the usable data rate, the amount of application-level data that actually reaches the destination per unit time. It excludes protocol overhead, headers, and any retransmitted data, so it reflects what the user’s applications genuinely receive, not just the total bits sent. Media types like fiber-optic, copper, or air describe physical transmission media, not a measure of data rate, and thus don’t capture the concept of usable data over time. In contrast to raw throughput, which includes all bits transmitted (useful data plus overhead), goodput focuses on the data that matters to applications, making it the best fit for describing usable data transferred over a period.