The concept of packet switching offers many advantages over the traditional idea of circuit switching. However, this is not to say that the developers of packet switching did not face problems and complications.
For starters, it was essential to come up with the necessary technology that would identify the different packets being transmitted and sort them accordingly. When you make use of a broadband internet connection connected to your telephone line, each and every bit of data transmitted to the exchange is done in the form of a packet.
In some cases, the packet may contain a request for data from a specific website. In other cases, the packet may contain your voice when you are on a telephone call. The exchange must identify which packet contains which type of data and process the same accordingly. This was a very important requirement as failure to do so would render the entire system unusable.
The second factor that the developers had to consider was that the speed would work to their disadvantage. In a dedicated line, the first bit of data would always land first followed by each and every succeeding bit of data. On the other hand the situation is different when multiple routes are being used to transmit data.
It is always possible that the recipient will end up with a jumble of data which has no head and no tail. In such a scenario, the recipient was not just required to separate different data but also arrange the data in its logical order.
Had these problems not been sorted out, chances are high that users might have ended up with the last word being heard first and the first word being heard last. While this is an oversimplification, this was a serious set of problems that developers of packet switching faced.
