hop Definition

1) In a packet-switching network, a hop is the trip a data packet takes from one router or intermediate point to another in the network. On the Internet (or a network that uses TCP/IP), the number of hops a packet has taken toward its destination (called the “hop count”) is kept in the packet header. A packet with an exceedingly large hop count is discarded.

2) Using Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), a hop is a switch to another radio frequency (RF) channel.