This memo comments on the TCP Big Window option described in RFC 1106. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. In such networks, the window size must not be increased without a similar increase in the sequence number space. Therefore, a different approach to big windows should be taken in the Internet.
Packet loss can occur, for example, by a congested network element discarding a packet.
Packet disordering can occur, for example, by packets of a TCP connection being arbitrarily transmitted partially over a low bandwidth terrestrial path and partially over a high bandwidth satellite path. TCP has the task of recreating at the destination an exact copy of the data stream generated at the source, in the same order and with no gaps or duplicates. The sorting operation corrects any disordering. An acknowledgement, timeout, and retransmission scheme corrects for data loss. The uniqueness of the sequence number corrects for data duplication.