If no route is determined for a destination, where is the packet sent?

• A. Gateway of Last Resort
• B. The directly connected interface
• C. Dropped
• D. Broadcast to all interfaces

Answer: (A)

When a router can’t find a specific path to the destination in its routing table, it uses a default path known as the gateway of last resort. This default route (often written as 0.0.0.0/0) points to the next-hop router or exit interface that should be used to reach destinations not explicitly listed in the table. So the packet is forwarded to that next-hop, with the expectation that the next device will know how to continue toward the destination.

If a default route isn’t configured, the router has no way to determine where to send the packet and would typically drop it or generate an unreachable message. The directly connected interface is only used when the destination is on that local network, and broadcasting to all interfaces isn’t how unicast routing operates; routers don’t simply flood packets to every interface.