The main differences between circuit-switched and packet-switched in mobile networks are as following:

Circuit Switched (CS) network

• Dedicated and continuous communication path (circuit) is established between the communicating devices for the duration of the session.

• Have lower latency and more predictable delay, as the dedicated communication path ensures consistent performance.

• Network resources (such as bandwidth) are reserved for the duration of the communication session, even if there is no active data transfer. This can lead to inefficient use of resources.

• More challenging to scale, as they require dedicated resources for each communication session.

• Commonly used for voice communication, telephony, and other real-time applications that require a continuous and dedicated communication channel.

Packet Switched (PS) network

• Data is divided into smaller units called packets, which can transfer independently over the network. There is no dedicated communication path, and packets may take different routes to reach their destination.

• May experience variable latency and delay, as packets can encounter congestion, queuing, and routing delays while traversing the network through different paths.

• Network resources are shared among multiple users, and the resources are only used when data needs to be transmitted. This can lead to more efficient utilization of network resources.

• More scalable, as they can accommodate more users and handle increased traffic by leveraging the shared network resources.

• Commonly used for data communication, such as internet access.