G What advantage does a circuit-switched network have over a packet-switched network? What advantages does TDM have over FDM in a circuit-switched network?

Advantages of a circuit-switched network over a packet-switched network are:

Advantages does TDM have over FDM in a circuit-switched network are;

Explanation:

(A) In its simplest term, packet switched network allows packets to be broken into smaller bits and then each bit is made to be sent independently across the network. In this type of network, communications between communicating devices might not necessarily be set up before communication can be initiated.

On the other hand, in a circuit switched network, communications between communicating devices  must be set up before communication can be initiated.  An example of this is the analog telephone network communication where there has to be a connection between the two end telephones before communication can begin.

The following are the advantages of circuit switched network over a packet switched network;

i. Since there is a need to establish connection before communication and once connection is made communication starts, circuit switched experiences lower delay compared to packet switched network.

ii. Also, since there is a need to establish connection before communication, a circuit switched network provides more data transmission reliability than a packet switched network.

iii. Circuit switched networks can be used for real time delivery of data while packet switched networks cannot be used.

(B) TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) and FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) are two common methods of combining multiple signals into a single signal - this is called multiplexing. They both act by dividing channels.

TDM splits and assigns time slices to each channel while FDM splits the channel into two or more non-overlapping ranges of frequency.

The following are the advantages of TDM over FDM in a circuit switched network;

(i) TDM provides flexibility than FDM

(ii) TDM provides efficiency by logically assigning time slices to signals according to how much bandwidth they need. This is an advantage that is lacking in FDM.