Data Transfer

There are a few key features that set TCP apart from User Datagram Protocol:

• Ordered data transfer - the destination host rearranges according to sequence number
• Retransmission of lost packets - any cumulative stream not acknowledged will be retransmitted.
• Discarding duplicate packets
• Error-free data transfer
• Flow control - limits the rate a sender transfers data to guarantee reliable delivery. When the receiving host's buffer fills, then next acknowledgement contains a 0 in the window size, to stop transfer and allow the data in the buffer to be processed.
• Congestion control - sliding window.