Realtime data delivery - good enough is no longer good enough

Realtime data delivery solutions are often seen as unreliable due to the possibility of data loss or incorrect ordering. However, Ably's protocol, client libraries, and platform provide a truly reliable transport for delivering real-time data. The design decisions taken at Ably were heavily influenced by TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which is responsible for providing a reliable byte stream with features such as data ordering, error detection, data de-duplication, resending lost packets, and flow and congestion control. Similarly, the Ably protocol ensures that data received is in the order it was sent and without any missing packets. When there is a problem that cannot be fixed by the Ably protocol, an error event is sent to the application using the Ably transport, indicating loss of continuity and requiring developer action such as reconnecting or re-attaching channels.