19 November 2019

Difference between Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

The main difference between circuit switching and packet switching is that the circuit is connection-oriented whereas packet switching is that connectionless. Circuit switching and packet switching are two switching methods that are used to connect the multiple communicating devices with one another. Circuit switching was particularly designed for voice communication technology and also it was less suitable for data transmission path. Let us learn some more comparison between circuit switching and packet switching with the help of comparison are given below.

Difference between circuit switching and packet switching


  • In-circuit switching there are 3 phases: 1 is called connection establishment 2nd is data transfer and third is connection released while in packet switching directly data transfer takes place.
  • Circuit switching is connection-oriented while in packet switching is connectionless. 
  • In-circuit switching a single connection which also leads to a single path for establishing a connection between two points while in packet switching a packet is simply data that has been divided into some smaller units along with a header, for ease of transfer containing signal information. 
  • In-circuit switching each data unit knows the entire path address which is provided y the source while in packet switching in each data unit just know the final destination address intermediate path is decided by the routers.
  • A circuit needs to be established to make sure that the data transmission takes place while in packet switching each packet containing the information that needs to be processed goes through the dynamic route.
  • While we have to use circuit switch a uniform path is followed throughout the session while in packet switching there is no uniform path that is followed end to end through the session.
  • Circuit switching is most ideal for voice communication while also keeping the delay uniform but in packet switching mainly used for data transmission as the delay is not uniform.
  • In-circuit switching, without a connection it can't exist as the connection needs to be present on a physical layer, but the packet switching is not necessary, as it can exist without one too. It needs to be present on a network layer. So in Circuit switching is implemented by the physical layer while in packet switching is implemented by the network layer.
  • Packet switching is store and forward technique while in circuit switching is not store and forward technique
  • Circuit switching is more reliable but packet switching is less reliable.
  • In packet switching less wastage of resources as compared to circuit switching so in circuit switching wasted resources are more.
  • Congestion can occur during the connection is establishment time there might be a case will requesting for the channel is already occupied while in packet switching congestion can occur during the data transfer phase, a large number of packet comes in no time.
  • Circuit switching can be achieved using two technologies either the space division or time division switching while in packet switching has two approaches datagram approach and virtual circuit approach.

We hope that you have got a better understanding of this concept. Furthermore, any quires regarding this concept or some electrical and electronics projects give your feedback in the comment section below.