Maximum LAN frame sizes

The larger your frame size, the more data your system can put into it. Hence, you can increase your data throughput.

Typically, you set the maximum frame size to the largest size that is supported by your input/output adapter (IOA). However, a device along the way will drop the frame if it cannot support the larger size. For example, if frames are being sent to a remote system on a different LAN, the frame must go through a bridge to be retransmitted to the remote LAN. If the bridge cannot support the frame size that your LAN is using, the frame will be dropped or discarded. In the Ethernet environment, no indication of the smaller frame size of the bridge is received. The problem might not be apparent; however, TCP/IP connections can either fail or exhibit poor performance.