>Network operators basically choose bridging vs routing based on how fast they want it to go and how much they hate configuring DHCP servers, which they really

>Network operators basically choose bridging vs routing based on how fast they want it to go and how much they hate configuring DHCP servers, which they really hate very much, which means they use bridging as much as possible and routing when they have to. Very rarely does a network operator use bridging to avoid configuring DHCP. All modern protocols are built on IP so you still need an addressing scheme and most people want the Internet so the 169 auto addressing is out. So even in big bridged networks, you still have a DHCP server. In fact, you configure less DHCP in a big bridged network than DHCP for a ton of tiny networks. The advantage to big bridging networks is that you have to setup very little routing (just the router to get in and out). If you routed between every port on the network, there would be an excessive amount of configuration involved to setup prefixes on every single interface.