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Networking Fundamentals · Foundational

Bits per Second (bps)

The unit for data rate on networks, scaled as Kbps, Mbps, Gbps and Tbps using powers of 1000.

Definition

Network speeds are expressed in bits per second, with 1 Mbps equal to 1,000,000 bits per second in networking (decimal prefixes). File sizes and storage are usually expressed in bytes, so divide a link speed by 8 to estimate bytes per second. Effective throughput is lower than the line rate because of headers, retransmissions and contention.

Example

Downloading a 1 GB file over a 100 Mbps link takes at least 80 seconds (8000 megabits divided by 100).

Exam tip

Mbps (bits) versus MBps (bytes) is a classic trap; the factor is 8.

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