350-501 Automation and Quality of Services Practice Question
Which DSCP value is recommended for Expedited Forwarding (EF) per-hop behavior, commonly used for voice traffic?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between DSCP values for voice payload (EF/46) versus voice signaling (CS3/24) or video (AF41/34), and the trap here is that candidates may confuse AF41 (DSCP 34) with EF because both are used for real-time traffic, but only EF provides strict priority queuing.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
DSCP 46
Expedited Forwarding (EF) per-hop behavior is defined in RFC 3246 and is designed for low-loss, low-latency, and low-jitter services such as voice traffic. The recommended DSCP value for EF is 46 (binary 101110), which corresponds to the PHB that ensures a dedicated forwarding treatment with a minimal queueing delay. This value is widely adopted in Cisco QoS deployments for voice payloads to guarantee strict priority queuing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
DSCP 46
Why this is correct
EF is DSCP 46, used for voice.
- ✗
DSCP 10
Why it's wrong here
DSCP 10 is AF11.
- ✗
DSCP 0
Why it's wrong here
DSCP 0 is Best Effort (DF).
- ✗
DSCP 34
Why it's wrong here
DSCP 34 is not EF; it corresponds to AF41.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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