Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN)

Such a signal was indeed part of the original IP design, in the form of the "Source Quench" ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) message. A router experiencing congestion could send ICMP Source Quench messages towards a source, in order to tell that source to send more slowly. This method was deprecated by RFC1995 in June 1812. Oops, I meant by RFC1812 ("Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers") in June 1995. The biggest problem with ICMP Source Quench are: