Difference Between Circuit Switching and

Packet Switching
August 22, 2016 15 Comments

Circuit
switching and packet switching are the two switching methods that are used
to connect the multiple communicating devices with one another. Circuit
Switching was particularly designed for voice communication and it was less
suitable for data transmission. So, a better solution evolved for data
transmission called Packet switching. The main difference between circuit
switching and packet switching is that Circuit Switching is connection
oriented whereas, Packet Switching is connectionless. Let us learn
some more differences between Circuit Switching and Packet Switching with
the help of comparison chart shown below.

Content: Circuit Switching Vs Packet Switching

1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Conclusion

Comparison Chart
 BASIS FOR
CIRCUIT SWITCHING PACKET SWITCHING
COMPARISON

Orientation Connection oriented. Connectionless.

Purpose Initially designed for Voice Initially designed for Data

communication. Transmission.

Flexibility Inflexible, because once a path is set Flexible, because a route is

all parts of a transmission follows created for each packet to

the same path. travel to the destination.

Order Message is received in the order, Packets of a message are

sent from the source. received out of order and

assembled at the destination.

Technology/Approach Circuit switching can be achieved Packet Switching has two

using two technologies, either Space approaches Datagram

Division Switching or Time- Approach and Virtual Circuit

Division Switching. Approach.

 BASIS FOR
CIRCUIT SWITCHING PACKET SWITCHING
COMPARISON

Layers Circuit Switching is implemented at Packet Switching is

Physical Layer. implemented at Network

Layer.

Definition of Circuit Switching

Circuit Switching establishes a physical path between the sender and

receiver of the message before a message is delivered. When a connection is
established between a sender and a receiver, the entire message travels
through the established path from sender to the receiver. Once the message
is delivered to the receiver, the source informs the network about the
completion of transmission and all the switches released. Then the link and
other connecting devices are used to set up another connection.

Circuit switching is always implemented at the Physical Layer. Circuit

switching can be explained with an example of a telephone conversation. In
a telephone conversation, once a connection is established, between a caller
and the receiver, it remains connected, till the whole conversation is finished
and both the caller and receiver hang up their phone. The Circuit switching is
not appropriate for data transmission because data is transmitted in spurts
(stream) and the line remains idle for most of the times and hence, the
bandwidth is wasted. Circuit Switching can be implemented using two
technologies either Space Division Switching or Time Division
Switching.

Definition of Packet Switching

Packet Switching is connectionless as it doesn’t establish any physical
connection before the transmission starts. In packet switching before the
message is transmitted, it is divided into some manageable parts called
packets. These packets are routed one by one from source to destination. In
packet switching, each packet may follow a different route to reach the
destination. Packets arrived at the destination are out of order but, they are
assembled in order before the destination forward it to the upper layer.

Packet Switching is always implemented at the Network Layer. Packet

switching has two approaches Datagram Approach and Virtual Circuit
Approach. In Datagram Approach each packet is independent of other
though they belong to the same message and may also choose a different
path to reach the destination. In Virtual Circuit Approach, the relationship
between the packets that belong to the same message is preserved as the
packet are not independent of each other, and all the packets that belong to
a particular message follow the same route to travel to the destination.

Key Differences Between Circuit Switching and Packet

Switching
1. Circuit Switching is connection oriented that means a path is
established between source and destination before the transmission
occurs. On the other hand, Packet Switching is Connectionless that
means a dynamic route is decided for each packet while transmission.
2. Circuit Switching was originally designed for voice communication
whereas, Packet Switching was originally designed for data
communication.
3. Circuit Switching is inflexible as once a path is established for
transmission, it doesn’t change while the duration of the session. On
the other hand, Packet Switching is flexible as each packet may travel
through a different route to reach its destination.
4. In packet switching, as each packet travels a different path hence, the
packet are received out of order at the receiver side and later arranged
in order. On the other hand, in circuit switching the entire message is
received as it is as sent from a sender to receiver.
5. Space Division Switching or Time-Division Switching can be used to
implement Circuit Switching whereas, Packet Switching can be
implemented using two approaches Datagram Approach and Virtual
Circuit Approach.
6. Circuit Switching is always implemented at physical layer whereas,
Packet Switching is implemented on the network layer.
Conclusion:
For Data transmission, Packet Switching is the more efficient than Circuit
Switching whereas, when it comes to voice transmission Circuit switching is
more efficient than packet switching.