Collision Domain

1. What is a Collision Domain?

A collision domain is a section of a network where devices share the same transmission medium.

If two devices try to send data at the same time, their signals interfere, causing a collision.

As the name suggests, it’s a zone where collisions can happen.

When this happens, the data gets corrupted and must be resent. This causes delays and negatively impacts network performance.

The more devices that share the same collision domain, the higher the risk of collisions.

Let’s now see how this works in practice.

2. Why Collisions Occur with Hubs

A hub operates at Layer 1 (Physical Layer) of the OSI model.
It is a dumb device that forwards data to every port, regardless of the destination. It doesn’t inspect traffic or make any forwarding decisions.

In other words, all ports on a hub belong to a single collision domain.

Case 1 — No Collision

In a hub-based network, imagine PC1 sends data to PC2.

Since the hub broadcasts the signal to all ports, PC3 also receives the frame, but it simply ignores it.

As only one device is transmitting, there’s no collision.

Case 2 — Collision Occurs

Now, suppose PC2 and PC3 both try to send data to PC1 at the same time.

Since all ports on a hub share the same collision domain, their signals collide on the link going to PC1 (Gi0/1).

This collision corrupts the data, forcing both PCs to wait and retransmit, which introduces delays.

As networks grew, hubs became a major performance bottleneck due to frequent collisions. To address this, bridges were introduced.

3. How Bridges Tried to Solve the Problem

To reduce collisions, bridges were introduced as an improvement over hubs.

A bridge operates at Layer 2 (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model.
It connects two segments of a network and acts as a filter. It examines the MAC address of incoming frames and only forwards traffic between segments when necessary.

This process splits the network into two separate collision domains.

If a collision occurs in one segment, it remains isolated and does not impact the other. This reduces the scope of collisions in hub-based networks.

However, inside each segment collisions can still occur between devices.

While bridges helped reduce the scope of collisions, the real breakthrough came with switches.

4. Why Switches Finally Fixed It

A switch is a modern network device that operates at Layer 2 (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model. You can think of it as a multiport bridge.

Unlike a hub, a switch doesn’t forward data to all ports. It knows exactly where to send each frame and delivers it only to the destination port.

Each Port Creates Its Own Collision Domain

Each port on a switch forms its own collision domain.
This means that traffic from one device doesn’t interfere with traffic on other ports.

Even if multiple devices are communicating at the same time, the switch handles each transmission independently.

Example — Two Devices Send Data at the Same Time

In this example, PC2 and PC3 both send data to PC1 at the same time.

The switch receives each frame on a different port and forwards them one by one, without mixing them.

5. Summary

Collision domains are directly influenced by the type of device used in the network:

• A hub (Layer 1): forwards all traffic to every port, one large collision domain
• A bridge (Layer 2): separates segments, one collision domain per segment
• A switch (Layer 2): assigns a separate collision domain to each port, eliminates collisions completely

Today, switches are the standard in Ethernet networks.
But for troubleshooting older environments or preparing for certifications like the CCNA, it’s important to understand how each device affects the collision domain and overall network performance.