What are network collisions and how do they occur? Are they normal?

What are network collisions and how do they occur? Are they normal?

A network collision occurs when two devices attempt to transmit data on a shared circuit. In a shared circuit where multiple devices are listening, only a single device can transmit data at a single point in time which requires the rest of the devices to be listening to the transmission. In an hub environments, multiple devices are connected to a single transmission stream, so collisions tend to happen. Switches break up collision domains to have single devices on their own network segment, which eliminates collisions.

This was last published in August 2005

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