In networking, what are "collisions"?

Collisions in networking specifically refer to situations where two devices try to send packets simultaneously over the same network segment, leading to a data transmission conflict. This phenomenon is most commonly associated with shared media networks, such as those using Ethernet technology, where multiple devices share the same communication channel. When two devices transmit at the same time, their signals collide, causing the data to become garbled or lost.

Protocols like Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) are designed to manage and minimize collisions by ensuring devices listen to the network before transmitting. In the case where a collision does occur, both devices will stop transmitting, wait a random amount of time, and then attempt to send their packets again, thereby reducing the likelihood of repeated collisions.

The other concepts listed relate to different issues in networking. Instabilities due to network overload pertain to performance degradation rather than the immediate conflict of data transmission. Errors in data transmission can arise from various factors like noise or interference, but they do not specifically define a collision. Conflicts in IP addressing concern the allocation and routing of IP addresses rather than the physical transmission of packets over a medium.