If you unplug the network you can't send messages, correct. Other people upthread have already gone over how you can't separate delivery from message processin

If you unplug the network you can't send messages, correct. Other people upthread have already gone over how you can't separate delivery from message processing and how TCP's attempt to do so makes it defective (unless you layer a whole additional system on top of it rendering most of TCP's design irrelevant) If you were trying to make a new, non-broken system on top of TCP or otherwise, allowing multiple delivery doesn't add any correctness/robustness benefits -- it just makes messages cheaper to send and receive. There is no "at most once or at least once" choice except in the pickwickian sense that if you don't require delivery or delivery confirmation you can save the effort of even trying.