Which statement about Fragment-Free switching is true?

• A. They all perform full error checking on every frame
• B. Cut-through checks all bits of the frame
• C. Fragment-Free Switching checks the first 64 bytes to catch fragmentation
• D. Store and Forward never delays forwarding

Answer: (C)

Fragment-Free switching sits between cut-through and store-and-forward. It makes a forwarding decision after receiving the first 64 bytes of a frame, using that minimum frame size to check for potential fragmentation or early errors. If those initial bytes look valid, the switch forwards the rest of the frame to the destination port, which reduces latency compared with waiting for the entire frame. If the frame later proves to be corrupted, the receiving side will reject it, but the switch has already started forwarding to improve efficiency.

This is why the statement about Fragment-Free switching checking the first 64 bytes to catch fragmentation is the best description. The other ideas don’t fit: full error checking on every frame is characteristic of store-and-forward, not fragment-free; cut-through forwards as soon as the destination address is read (not after 64 bytes and not with the same fragmentation check), and store-and-forward does not imply “never delays forwarding.”