WebSockets ping/pong, why not TCP keepalive?

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The problems with TCP keepalive are:

  1. It is off by default.
  2. It operates at two-hour intervals by default, instead of on-demand as the Ping/Pong protocol provides.
  3. It operates between proxies rather than end to end.
  4. As pointed out by @DavidSchwartz, it operates between TCP stacks, not between the applications so therefore it doesn’t tell us whether the application is alive or not.

The comparison with WebSockets ping/pong isn’t meaningful. TCP keepalive is automatic, and timed, when enabled, whereas WebSocket ping/pong is executed as required by the application.

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