What property of TCP ensures that information arrives intact and in order?

The property of TCP that ensures information arrives intact and in order is connection orientation. TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol, is a connection-oriented protocol, meaning that it establishes a connection between the sender and receiver before transmitting data. This connection-oriented nature requires a three-way handshake to set up the connection, ensuring that both parties are ready to communicate.

Once the connection is established, TCP implements several mechanisms to guarantee reliable delivery and correct sequencing of packets. Each segment of data sent over TCP is assigned a sequence number, which helps the receiving end to reconstruct the data stream in the correct order, regardless of the order in which packets are received. Additionally, TCP uses acknowledgements and retransmissions to confirm the receipt of data and to recover from any lost packets, thereby ensuring data integrity.

This combination of establishing a connection, sequencing, and ensuring reliability is what characterizes TCP as a robust protocol for transferring data, making it especially suitable for applications where order and correctness are crucial, such as web browsing or file transfers. The other options do not pertain directly to the reliable and ordered delivery of packets, which is central to TCP's function.