"TCP works very hard to get the data delivered in order without errors, and does retransmissions and recoveries, and all that kind of stuff, which is exactly what you want in a file transfer, because so you don't want any errors in your file"
About this Quote
The intent is practical: explain why TCP’s belt-and-suspenders reliability is ideal for file transfer. The subtext is sharper: reliability is not free, and it’s not always desirable. By framing TCP’s labor as “exactly what you want” in this use case, Postel implicitly marks the boundary where you might not want it: real-time voice, live video, interactive systems where late packets are worse than missing ones. In other words, TCP’s virtue can become latency.
Context matters because Postel helped shape the internet’s founding temperament: build simple building blocks, let endpoints do the heavy lifting, keep the core dumb but dependable. His phrasing carries that end-to-end sensibility without name-dropping it. You can almost hear an argument with the future: the internet will be used for everything, but protocols shouldn’t pretend one tradeoff fits every task.
The line also smuggles in a cultural stance about trust. Early networks were noisy, links were flaky, and “errors” were a lived reality, not an edge case. TCP’s obsession is an antidote to that fragility, a way to make global communication feel like local certainty. That’s the magic trick: heroic effort rendered invisible as “just works.”
Quote Details
| Topic | Internet |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Postel, Jon. (2026, February 17). TCP works very hard to get the data delivered in order without errors, and does retransmissions and recoveries, and all that kind of stuff, which is exactly what you want in a file transfer, because so you don't want any errors in your file. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/tcp-works-very-hard-to-get-the-data-delivered-in-129619/
Chicago Style
Postel, Jon. "TCP works very hard to get the data delivered in order without errors, and does retransmissions and recoveries, and all that kind of stuff, which is exactly what you want in a file transfer, because so you don't want any errors in your file." FixQuotes. February 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/tcp-works-very-hard-to-get-the-data-delivered-in-129619/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"TCP works very hard to get the data delivered in order without errors, and does retransmissions and recoveries, and all that kind of stuff, which is exactly what you want in a file transfer, because so you don't want any errors in your file." FixQuotes, 17 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/tcp-works-very-hard-to-get-the-data-delivered-in-129619/. Accessed 27 Mar. 2026.
