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Point-to-point

Point-to-Point (pt2pt) telecommunications is most recently (2003) referenced regarding wireless data communications for Internet or Voice over IP via radio frequencies in the multi-gigahertz range. It also includes technologies such as laser for telecommunications but in all cases expects that the transmission medium is line of sight and capable of being fairly tightly beamed from transmitter to receiver.

Point-to-Point is distinct from point-to-multipoint and broadcast.

In pt2pt, the telecommunications signal typically is bi-directional, either Time domain Multi-plexed or channelized.

In hubs and switches, a hub provides a point-to-multipoint (or simply multipoint) circuit which divides the total bandwidth supplied by the hub among each connected client node. A switch on the other hand provides a series of point-to-point circuits, which allows each client node to have a dedicated circuit and the added advantage of having full-duplex connections