The answer is lower latency and egress costs for traffic originating in regions far from users. This is correct because Google Cloud’s Premium Tier routes traffic over Google’s private global backbone network rather than the public internet, reducing the number of hops and network congestion, which directly lowers latency. Additionally, Premium Tier’s optimized path often results in lower egress costs compared to Standard Tier for traffic that must traverse long distances, as Google can peer more efficiently with last-mile providers. On the Google Professional Cloud Network Engineer exam, this question tests your understanding of Network Service Tiers and their trade-offs; a common trap is confusing Premium Tier’s global load balancing with anycast IP as a cost advantage, when in fact Premium Tier costs more per GB but delivers performance benefits. Remember the memory tip: “Premium pays for the private pipe, not the public path” — it’s about speed and reach, not price.
PCNE Practice Question: Designing, planning, and prototyping a GCP network
This PCNE practice question tests your understanding of designing, planning, and prototyping a gcp network. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO of the following are advantages of using the Premium Tier of Google Cloud's Network Service Tiers? (Choose TWO.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Global load balancing with a single anycast IP address.
Options B and D are correct. Premium Tier offers lower latency by leveraging Google's global network. Option A is wrong because Premium Tier costs more. Option C is wrong because Premium Tier allows global load balancing with anycast IP. Option E is wrong because Premium Tier supports both global and regional load balancers, but the advantage is global.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Reduced cost compared to Standard Tier.
Why it's wrong here
Premium Tier is more expensive than Standard Tier.
✓
Global load balancing with a single anycast IP address.
Why this is correct
Premium Tier enables global anycast IP for load balancers.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✓
Lower latency and egress costs for traffic originating in regions far from users.
Why this is correct
Premium Tier uses Google's backbone to deliver traffic closer to users.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Supports regional load balancers only.
Why it's wrong here
Premium Tier supports both global and regional load balancers.
✗
Public IP addresses are assigned from a regional pool.
Why it's wrong here
Public IP assignment is not a differentiator between tiers.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCNE NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Designing, planning, and prototyping a GCP network — This question tests Designing, planning, and prototyping a GCP network — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Global load balancing with a single anycast IP address. — Options B and D are correct. Premium Tier offers lower latency by leveraging Google's global network. Option A is wrong because Premium Tier costs more. Option C is wrong because Premium Tier allows global load balancing with anycast IP. Option E is wrong because Premium Tier supports both global and regional load balancers, but the advantage is global.
What should I do if I get this PCNE question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCNE NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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