Which device forwards frames to all ports on the network, regardless of destination?

Which device forwards frames to all ports on the network, regardless of destination?

• A. Hub
• B. Switch
• C. Router
• D. Bridge

Answer: (A)

This question is about how frames are forwarded by devices at the physical/data-link level. A hub forwards every signal it receives out all other ports, acting like a simple repeater. It doesn’t inspect MAC addresses, so it doesn’t know the destination and thus floods the frame to every device on the same network segment. That also means all devices share one collision domain, so only one device can transmit at a time in half-duplex, and collisions can occur. In contrast, a switch learns the MAC addresses of connected devices and forwards frames only to the appropriate port, reducing unnecessary traffic. A router operates at the network layer and routes packets between networks, while a bridge (older term) filters traffic based on MAC addresses to segment collision domains. Therefore, the device that forwards frames to all ports regardless of destination is the hub.

This question is about how frames are forwarded by devices at the physical/data-link level. A hub forwards every signal it receives out all other ports, acting like a simple repeater. It doesn’t inspect MAC addresses, so it doesn’t know the destination and thus floods the frame to every device on the same network segment. That also means all devices share one collision domain, so only one device can transmit at a time in half-duplex, and collisions can occur. In contrast, a switch learns the MAC addresses of connected devices and forwards frames only to the appropriate port, reducing unnecessary traffic. A router operates at the network layer and routes packets between networks, while a bridge (older term) filters traffic based on MAC addresses to segment collision domains. Therefore, the device that forwards frames to all ports regardless of destination is the hub.