Physical point-to-point topologies directly connect two nodes as shown in the figure.

In this arrangement, two nodes do not have to share the media with other hosts. Additionally, a node does not have to make any determination about whether an incoming frame is destined for it or another node. Therefore, the logical data link protocols can be very simple as all frames on the media can only travel to or from the two nodes. The frames are placed on the media by the node at one end and taken off the media by the node at the other end of the point-to-point circuit.

Data link layer protocols could provide more sophisticated media access control processes for logical point-to-point topologies, but this would only add unnecessary protocol overhead.