A communication method by which application messages are broken down into small packets, each of which is sent independently through a network at the full bandwidth of each link. This has the advantage that messages will typically move more quickly through a network and makes the communication more efficient (providing the links are not overloaded) while reducing the load on individual links. In modern communication networks, most systems, even those that have circuit-like behaviour (for example the telephone network), are implemented using packet switching.

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