<P> Generally, where TCP is unsuitable, the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is used . This provides the application multiplexing and checksums that TCP does, but does not handle streams or retransmission, giving the application developer the ability to code them in a way suitable for the situation, or to replace them with other methods like forward error correction or interpolation . </P> <P> Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is another protocol that provides reliable stream oriented services similar to TCP . It is newer and considerably more complex than TCP, and has not yet seen widespread deployment . However, it is especially designed to be used in situations where reliability and near - real - time considerations are important . </P> <P> Venturi Transport Protocol (VTP) is a patented proprietary protocol that is designed to replace TCP transparently to overcome perceived inefficiencies related to wireless data transport . </P> <P> TCP also has issues in high - bandwidth environments . The TCP congestion avoidance algorithm works very well for ad - hoc environments where the data sender is not known in advance . If the environment is predictable, a timing based protocol such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) can avoid TCP's retransmits overhead . </P>

The sender and receiver end points in a communications system are referred to as