Why is 255.255.255.255 used as a limited broadcast address, and what is its scope?

• A. It broadcasts to all hosts on the local network segment; routers do not forward limited broadcast packets.
• B. It broadcasts to all hosts on the internet
• C. It is used for multicast group discovery
• D. It identifies a single host route on the LAN

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that 255.255.255.255 is the IPv4 limited broadcast address, used to reach every device on the local network segment. When a host sends a packet to this address, every host on the same broadcast domain processes it, but routers do not forward these packets to other networks. This keeps the discovery or initial-communication traffic contained to the local link.

This scope—only the local network segment defined by the subnet—is what makes 255.255.255.255 useful for things like a device announcing itself or a DHCP client querying for a server on its own LAN. It’s not designed for internet-wide delivery, and it isn’t used for multicast group discovery (which uses the 224.0.0.0/4 range) or to identify a specific host route (that would use a unicast address).