Which statement about IP is true according to the material?

• A. It is a transport-layer protocol.
• B. It guarantees reliable end-to-end delivery.
• C. It is a connectionless network-layer protocol.
• D. It is a database query language.

Answer: (C)

IP operates at the network layer and is connectionless, meaning it handles routing of individual datagrams without establishing a dedicated path. Because it is connectionless, packets can take different routes and there’s no guarantee of delivery, order, or protection against duplicates. Reliability and sequencing are provided by higher-layer protocols (like TCP) or by application-level logic, not by IP itself. This is why the statement describing IP as a connectionless network-layer protocol is the true one. It’s not a transport-layer protocol, and it isn’t a database query language.