What is the term used to describe what happens when speed and duplex settings are not supported by a neighboring device and result in a slow or failed transmission?

• A. Latency
• B. Speed and Duplex Mismatch
• C. Jitter
• D. Bandwidth

Answer: (B)

Speed and duplex negotiation allows two Ethernet devices to agree on how fast to send data and whether both directions can be used simultaneously. When a device on the other end doesn’t support the same speed or duplex setting, they can’t settle on a common configuration. That mismatch means the link often operates at a lower speed or in half-duplex with collisions and retries, which dramatically slows transmissions or even prevents the link from performing properly. This is why the correct term is speed and duplex mismatch. Latency, jitter, and bandwidth describe other aspects of network performance (delay, the variability of delay, and capacity), not the negotiation outcome. If you encounter this, you typically fix it by ensuring both ends use the same speed and duplex setting, or by relying on proper auto-negotiation on compatible hardware.