What term describes the actual useful data rate achieved by a network application, excluding protocol overhead?

• A. Goodput
• B. Bandwidth
• C. Throughput
• D. Latency

Answer: (A)

The main idea is separating the amount of data the application actually uses from the link’s raw capacity and from the total bits sent over the network. Goodput is the actual useful data rate achieved by a network application, excluding protocol overhead such as headers and framing. So even if a link can carry a high bit rate, the goodput is the portion that represents payload delivered to the application.

That’s why goodput is the best answer: it measures the real payload rate that the application can use, not counting the extra bits from headers or other protocol overhead. For example, if a 10 Mbps link carries payload plus headers and retransmissions that effectively deliver only 7 Mbps of user data, the goodput is 7 Mbps, while the link’s bandwidth and the measured throughput may differ based on how you account for overhead. Latency is about delay, not data rate, and bandwidth refers to the maximum capacity, not the actual payload delivered.