Autonegotiation

Auto-negotiation is like playing a game with your friend to figure out what toys you both want to play with. Your toy box has lots of toys, some big and some small, and you want to make sure you and your friend can play with the same toys.

Similarly, when two devices connect with each other, like a computer and a router, they need to talk to each other and agree on what kind of connection they want to have. They want to make sure they both understand how to talk to each other and what kind of data they can send and receive.

Auto-negotiation helps devices figure out what connection to use by sending out signals called "advertisements" to each other. These advertisements say things like "Hey, I'm a computer and I can handle fast data transfer!" or "Hey, I'm a router and I prefer a slower connection."

Then the devices talk to each other and decide what connection to use. It's like if you and your friend said "I like the Barbie doll!" and "I like the action figures!" to each other - you'd figure out that you can play with different toys but you still want to play together.

By using auto-negotiation, devices can talk to each other and make sure they have a good connection to send and receive data. It helps things work better and faster, like when you and your friend have a plan to play with the same toys and have fun together.