• Computers > Internet > Bandwidth
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Internet Bandwidth Comparisons

Connection Speed
Transmit 1 GB
 1 MB
 10 K
type bpsB/sec Dayshh : mm : ss mm : ss Seconds
28.8 Modem 28.8 K 3.5 K 3 10 : 51 : 01.62 4 : 51.27 2.8444
56K Modem 56 K 6.8 K 1 18 : 36 : 31.69 2 : 29.80 1.4629
DS0 64 K 8.0 K 1 12 : 24 : 32.00 2 : 08.00 1.2500
2 Channel ISDN 128 K 15.6 K   18 : 38 : 28.86 1 : 05.54 0.6400
Common DSL 512 K 62.5 K   4 : 39 : 37.22 : 16.38 0.1600
Cable 1 M 122.1 K   2 : 23 : 09.93 :  8.39 0.0819
T1 1.544 M 188.5 K   1 : 32 : 43.43 :  5.43 0.0531
T2 6.312 M 770.5 K   : 22 : 40.89 :  1.33 0.0100
Ethernet 10.000 M 1.220 M   : 14 : 18.99 :  0.84 0.0082
T3 44.736 M 5.461 M   :  3 : 12.01 :  0.19 0.0018
OC-1 51.840 M 6.328 M   :  2 : 45.70 :  0.16 0.0016
Fast Ethernet 100.00 M 12.207 M   :  1 : 25.90 :  0.08 0.0008
OC-3 155.52 M 18.984 M   :    : 55.23 :  0.05 0.0005
OC-12 622.08 M 75.937 M   :    : 13.81 :  0.01 0.0001

  • Abbreviations:
    • bps = bits per second
      • a bit (b) is either a "0" or a "1"
    • B = Byte
      • 1 byte = 8 bits
    • hh = Hours
    • mm = Minutes
    • ss = Seconds
    • For more on conversions, see the bit calculator

 
  • K = KB, Kilobyte, about 1 thousand
    • 1 K = 210 = 1024
    • 10 K is the approximate size of this web page
  • MB = M, Meg or Megabyte, about 1 million
    • 1 MB = 220 = 1,048,576
    • 1 MB = 1,000 K (roughly)
  • GB = Gig or Gigabyte, about 1 billion
    • 1 GB = 230 = 1,073,741,824
    • 1 GB = 1,000 MB (roughly)
  • For more on byte prefixes, see International System of Units (SI)

  • 56K modem users often connect at slower speeds:
    • typically between 26.4 K and 46 K, depending on the phone line quality
  • DSL has many variations:
  • Cable transmit speeds vary greatly (from 2.5 Mbps down to a few Kbps), and depend on:
    • your provider, how many people are on at the same time, whether you're uploading or downloading
  • OC pipes come in higher bandwith:
    • OC-48 - 2.488 Gbps, OC-96 - 4.976 Gbps, OC-192 - 10 Gbps, OC-255 - 13.21 Gbps
    • For more, see An Atlas of Cyberspace
  • All times are rough approximations based on optimal connections.
    • Times do not include common delays, like connect time, response time, traffic, packet loss, and such.
    • While I'm pretty sure of the calculations, you should probably investigate your choices further, rather than make decisions based on the above.
  • For more on bandwidth, connection choices, the internet backbone, Tier 1, Tier 2, and so on, see:
  • Comparison of bandwidth and content: Content is Not King (highly recommended)

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