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.

Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR
CIRCUIT SWITCHING PACKET SWITCHING
COMPARISON

Orientation Connection oriented. Connectionless.

Purpose Initially designed for Voice Initially designed for Data

communication. Transmission.
 BASIS FOR
CIRCUIT SWITCHING PACKET SWITCHING
COMPARISON

Flexibility Inflexible, because once a Flexible, because a route

path is set all parts of a is created for each packet

transmission follows the same to travel to the

path. destination.

Order Message is received in the Packets of a message are

order, sent from the source. received out of order and

assembled at the

destination.

Technology/Approach Circuit switching can be Packet Switching has two

achieved using two approaches Datagram

technologies, either Space Approach and Virtual

Division Switching or Time- Circuit Approach.

Division Switching.

Layers Circuit Switching is Packet Switching is

implemented at Physical implemented at Network

Layer. Layer.