In the internet protocol suite, unreliable or best effort protocols do not guarantee delivery of data Any retransmission that is needed is left to upper layers
not worthy of reliance or trust; "in the early 1950s computers were large and expensive and unreliable"; "an undependable assistant" lacking a sense of responsibility
In the TCP/IP sense of the term, a protocol which does not perform error correction (relying on "upper" layers to detect and correct errors, usually through retransmission)
If you describe a person, machine, or method as unreliable, you mean that you cannot trust them. Diplomats can be a notoriously unreliable and misleading source of information He had an unreliable car. reliable + unreliability un·re·li·abil·ity his lateness and unreliability. unable to be trusted or depended on