Notice in the chart that
K b/s = 1024 BITS per second
K B/s = 1024 BYTES per second
Units of Measurement – Broadband Internet Access Speed
bit= smallest unit of digital information, i.e. ones & zeros
byte= a set of bits
bps= bits per second
Kbps= kilobits per second =1000 bits per second
Mbps = Million bits per second =1,000,000 bits per second
Gbps = Gigabits per second = 1,000,000,000 (one billion) bits per second
Tbps = Terabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) bits per second
| |
T1 |
T2 |
Cable/DSL |
Verizon FIOS |
T3 |
| Download Speed Can Reach (kb/s) |
1,544 |
6,312 |
8,000 |
30,000 |
44,736 |
| Download Speed Can Reach (kB/s) |
193 |
789 |
1,000 |
5,592 |
3,750 |
It seems people still have a notion that “dedicated T’s are the pinnacle of data telecom service. Why buy a dedicated T1, T3, etc. when alternative technologies are reaching/surpassing their performance for a fraction of the cost?
Note 1: Cable/DSL speeds are listed at somewhat of a maximum of what people are seeing today.
Note 2: Upload speeds for businesses that are hosting technology can be an important consideration, and Cable/DSL providers typically limit the uploads speeds significantly.� Verizon’s FIOS, on the other�hand, starts with 2,000 kb/s and goes up to 5,000 kb/s for upload — still quite a bit faster than a T1.
If you want 99.99% or more guaranteed uptime through a SLA (Service Level Agreement) and a guaranteed 1544kb/s Up and 1544kb/s Down 24/7, then a T1,T2, or T3 connection are what you need. If you are ok with a few hours of outages, no decent SLA (ask Verizon for an SLA), a shared connection where if your neighbors use all the bandwidth (or through DDoS) then you start to have slow connections, Disabled ports, or to shutoff your service if spam or other issue detected.. without trying hard to contact you.
Businesses that provide SLA with uptimes, 24/7, and guarantees cannot rely on Cable/DSL or Verizon FiOS. Especially for 30$ – 130$ connections.
For Home/Personal.. or a business that does not ’serve/host other businesses’ and just uses email and web.. then I suggest FIOS!
Also, an idea, I do suggest a 24/7 business have 2 connections to every server they have. 1 will be the tried and true T1 line (or T2) and the other will be the unreliable (at least not 99.999%), but extremely fast, FIOS. When FIOS has its outages, then your server will still be able to communicate through the trusty T1 line. However, this will only work with Name-Based failover/redundancy and not IP addresses (useful for websites, ftp sites, and even Oracle database connections by hostname and not IP address).
Source
Internet Connection Speed Comparison Chart
This chart is provided by Summersault to help you understand the different kinds of internet connection technologies available. (If you’re in Richmond/Wayne County Indiana, see a list of available local connection options.)
| Carrier Technology |
Description |
Speed |
Physical Medium |
Comments |
| Dial-up Access |
On demand access using a modem and regular telephone line (POT). |
2400 bps to 56 Kbps |
Twisted pair (regular phone lines) |
- Cheap but slow compared with other technologies.
- Speed may degrade due to the amount of line noise
|
| ISDN |
Dedicated telephone line and router required. |
64 Kbps to 128 Kbps |
Twisted pair |
- Not available everywhere but becoming more widespread.
- An ISDN line costs slightly more than a regular telephone line, but you get 2 phone lines from it.
- 56K ISDN is much faster than a 56K dialup line
|
| Cable |
Special cable modem and cable line required. |
512 Kbps to 20 Mbps |
Coaxial cable; in some cases telephone lines used for upstream requests. |
- Must have existing cable access in area.
- Cost of bring service into an area and trenching cable can be prohibitive.
- Networkable
|
| ADSL/DSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
(ADSL is the same as DSL)
|
This new technology uses the unused digital portion of a regular copper telephone line to transmit and receive information. ADSL is asymmetric since it recieves at 6 to 8 Mbps per second but can only send data at 64 Kbps.
A special modem and adapter card are required.
|
128 Kbps to 8 Mbps |
Twisted pair (used as a digital, broadband medium) |
- Doesn’t interfere with normal telephone use.
- Bandwidth is dedicated, not shared as with cable.
- Bandwidth is affected by the distance from the network hubs. Must be within 5 km (3.1 miles) of telephone company switch.
- Limited availability.
- Not networkable
|
| Wireless (LMCS) |
Access is gained by connection to a high speed cellular like local multi-point communications system (LMCS) network via wireless transmitter/receiver. |
30 Mbps or more |
Airwaves
Requires outside antenna.
|
- Can be used for high speed data, broadcast TV and wireless telephone service.
|
Broadband over Power
(BPL) |
Uses existing electrical infrastructure to deliver broadband speeds using BPL “modems” |
500Kbps to 3Mbps |
Ordinary power lines |
- Still an emerging technology, not widely available
- Significantly lower deployment costs than comparable technologies like DSL/Cable.
|
| Satellite |
Newer versions have two-way satellite access, removing need for phone line.
In older versions, the computer sends request for information to an ISP via normal phone dial-up communications and data is returned via high speed satellite to rooftop dish, which relays it to the computer via a decoder box.
|
6 Mbps or more |
Airwaves
Requires outside antenna.
|
- Bandwidth is not shared.
- Satellite companies are set to join the fray soon which could lead to integrated TV and Internet service using the same equipment and WebTV like integrated services
- Latency is typically high
- Some connections require an existing Internet service account.
- Setup fees can range from $500-$1000.
|
| Frame Relay |
Provides a type of “party line” connection to the Internet.
Requires a FRAD (Frame Relay Access Device) similar to a modem, or a DSU/CSU.
|
56 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps (or more, depending on connection type) |
Various |
- May cost less than ISDN in some locations.
- Limited availability.
- Uses one of the connection types below, fractional up to OC3
|
| Fractional T1
(Flexible DS1)
|
Only a portion of the 23 channels available in a T1 line is actually used. |
64 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps |
Twisted-pair or coaxial cable |
- Cheaper than a full T1 line with growth options of 56 Kbps or 64 Kbps increments as required.
|
| T1 |
Special lines and equipment (DSU/CSU and router) required. |
1.544 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber |
- Typically used for high bandwidth demands such as videoconferencing and heavy graphic file transfers.
- Minimum for large businesses and ISPs.
- Expensive
|
| T3 |
Typically used for ISP to Internet infrastructure. |
44.736 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
|
| OC-1 |
Typically used for ISP to Internet infrastructure within Internet infrastructure. |
51.84 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
|
| OC-3 |
Typically used for large company backbone or Internet backbone. |
155.52 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
|
About Bandwidth
Bandwidth, or capacity, refers to the amount of data a given technology or infrastructure can transmit over time. It is usually expressed in kilobits per second (Kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps).
There is often confusion about bandwidth due to the difference between kilobytes and kilobits. Bits are used to talk about data transfer rates (1 kilobit = 1000 bits), while bytes are used to talk about storage size calculations (1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes). There are 8 bits in a byte. So a 28.8 Kbps (kilobits per second) modem can actually only handle a maximum of 3.6 KB/s (kilobytes per second) of data, including the connection to the ISP, the data holding the TCP/IP packets together, and other essential information. Given all these facts together, your download speeds will often be slower than the “potential” advertised.
About Latency
Latency, or “network latency” refers to the speed at which traffic is traveling over an internet connection. It is usually measured according the round-trip time that it takes a single chunk of data to reach a remote host and then come back. This is not always the best measure of overall performance, however, as it is possible for a high latency link to also be a high bandwidth link (Satellite and DSL are good examples of this.)
Parts of this document were originally obtained from from Ontario Library Services in Canada. Updated in 09-2000 with help from Alan Moore and various other web resources. Last significant update on 10-11-2005.
Source
U.S. Internet is the Slowest out there
| How speed is measured in the two major aspects of computer jargon: |
| |
| Data – How data is measured: |
| |
Data is measured on your hard drive (i.e.- file sharing and FTP programs measure transfer speeds).
Kilo is 1,024 and Mega is 1,048,576.
Examples: 1,048,576 B = 1,024 KB and 1,048,576 KB = 1,024 MB Bytes / Bits – Lower case b means bit and upper case B means Byte. There are 8 bits to a Byte. more>>
To see more about this see our Byte Chart page for more details.
|
|
| |
| Communication – How communication devices are rated: |
| |
Kilo means 1,000 and Mega means 1,000,000.
Examples: 56k modem and 10Mbit Ethernet
KB stands for Bytes and Kb stands for bits (eight bits to a Byte).
|
|
| |
|
Internet Access Speed – Differences in measuring
Connection Chart
| Carrier Technology |
Speed |
Physical Medium |
Application |
GSM
(mobile telephone service) |
9.6 Kbps to 14.4 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
HSCSD
(High-speed circuit-switched data service) |
Up to 56 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
POTS
(Plain Old Telephone Service) |
Up to 56 Kbps |
Twisted-pair |
Home and small business access |
| Dedicated 56 Kbps on Frame Relay |
56 Kbps |
Various |
Business e-mail with fairly large file attachments |
| DS0 |
64 Kbps |
All |
The base signal on a channel in the set of Digital Signal levels |
GPRS
(General Packet Radio System) |
56 Kbps to 114 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| ISDN |
BRI: 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps PRI: 23 (T-1) or 30 (E1) assignable 64 Kbps channels plus control channel; up to 1.544 Mbps (T-1) or 2.048 (E1) |
BRI: Twisted-pair
PRI: T-1 or E1 line |
BRI: Faster home and small business access
PRI: Medium and large enterprise access |
| IDSL |
128 Kbps |
Twisted-pair |
Faster home and small business access |
EDGE
(Enhanced Data GSM Environment) |
384 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| Satellite |
400 Kbps (DirecPC) |
RF in space (wireless) |
Faster home and small enterprise access |
| Frame relay |
56 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps |
Twisted-pair or coaxial cable |
Large company backbone for LANs to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| DS1/T-1 |
1.544 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber |
Large company to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
UMTS
(Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) |
Up to 2 Mbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
EV-DO
(Evolution Data Optimized) |
400-700 Kbps (but capable of 2.4Mbps) |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| E-1 |
2.048 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber |
32-channel European equivalent of T-1 |
| T-1C (DS1C) |
3.152 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber |
Large company to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| DS2/T-2 |
6.312 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber |
Large company to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
DSL
(Digital Subscriber Line) |
256 Kbps to 8 Mbps |
Twisted-pair (used as a digital, broadband medium) |
Home, small business, and enterprise access using existing copper lines |
| E-2 |
8.448 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber |
Carries four multiplexed E-1 signals |
| Cable modem |
256 Kbps to 52 Mbps |
Coaxial cable (usually uses Ethernet); in some systems, telephone used for upstream requests |
Home, business, school access |
| Ethernet |
10 Mbps |
10BASE-T (twisted-pair); 10BASE-2 or -5 (coaxial cable); 10BASE-F (optical fiber) |
Most popular business local area network (LAN) |
| E-3 |
34.368 Mbps |
Twisted-pair or optical fiber |
Carries 16 E-l signals |
| DS3/T-3 |
44.736 Mbps |
Coaxial cable |
ISP to Internet infrastructure
Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| OC-1 |
51.84 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
ISP to Internet infrastructure
Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| HSSI |
Up to 53 Mbps |
HSSI cable |
Between router hardware and WAN lines
Short-range (50 feet) interconnection between slower LAN devices and faster WAN lines |
| Fast Ethernet |
100 Mbps |
100BASE-T4 (twisted pair); 100BASE-TX (twisted pair); 100BASE-FX (optical fiber) |
Workstations with 10 Mbps Ethernet cards can plug into a Fast Ethernet LAN |
| FDDI |
100 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
Large, wide-range LAN usually in a large company or a larger ISP |
T-3D
(DS3D) |
135 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
ISP to Internet infrastructure
Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| E4 |
139.264 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
Carries 4 E3 channels
Up to 1,920 simultaneous voice conversations |
| OC-3/STM-1 |
155.52 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
Large company backbone
Internet backbone |
| E5 |
565.148 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
Carries 4 E4 channels
Up to 7,680 simultaneous voice conversations |
| OC-12/STM-4 |
622.08 Mbps |
Optical fiber |
Internet backbone |
| Gigabit Ethernet |
1 Gbps |
Optical fiber (and “copper” up to 25 meters) |
Workstations/networks with 10/100 Mbps Ethernet will plug into Gigabit Ethernet switches |
| OC-24 |
1.244 Gbps |
Optical fiber |
Internet backbone |
| SciNet |
2.325 Gbps (15 OC-3 lines) |
Optical fiber |
Part of the vBNS backbone |
| OC-48/STM-16 |
2.488 Gbps |
Optical fiber |
Internet backbone |
| OC-192/STM-64 |
10 Gbps |
Optical fiber |
Backbone |
| OC-256 |
13.271 Gbps |
Optical fiber |
Backbone |
|
| |
KB / Kb
|
|
| |
|
The abbreviation for bit is a lowercase “b”; the abbreviation for byte is an uppercase “B”. Their are 8 bits in a Byte. |
| |
Modem
|
|
| |
|
Dial up modem speed is measured in Kilo and Mega bits. Dial up modem speeds are pretty much tapped out at their high end of 56Kb due to the noise that exists on standard POTS copper telephone lines. A few companies have toyed with filtering systems to help quiet the lines but with the newer packet lines taking over the market place we may someday see these POTS lines disappear altogether. |
| |
DSL
|
|
| |
|
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a broadband internet service that is delivered right through your regular phone line and is often supplied by your local telephone company. Although it uses your phone lines, it does not interfere in anyway with you telephone, caller id, answering machine or other telephone equipment. It is typically available in speeds from 144Kb to 3Mb, but even faster speeds are available from some providers. |
| |
aDSL
|
|
| |
|
A type of DSL common for residential use is Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL). It is asymmetrical in the sense that it can download (receive) data much faster than it can upload (send) data. Typical internet surfing mainly involves downloading data from web servers, so this asymmetry works out fine for home use. Plus this asymmetry often allows for large cost savings. |
| |
sDSL
|
|
| |
|
A type of DSL that is common for business use is Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL). With SDSL you get the same bandwidth (speed) in each direction. Although it is typically much more expensive than ADSL, it is better if you are running a web server or conducting other activities which would require a lot of data to be sent. |
| |
Cable
|
|
| |
|
Cable internet access is generally offered by the same companies that provide cable TV. It works on the same coaxial cable that the TV signal comes in on, but doesn’t effect your TV signal. Therefore you can use the internet and watch TV at the same time. Typically, cable internet access provide a maximum of 1.5 – 6MB of bandwidth on the system. However, everyone on your network segment is sharing that bandwidth, so performance can be much lower, especially if a lot of people in your neighborhood use the service. Some cable providers may limit your individual bandwidth, so that you will never see the peak bandwidth even when your network segment is clear. |
| |
Satellite
|
|
| |
|
With satellite internet access, data is sent between a small satellite dish at your home and the satellite in space. This data is then relayed to a base station that has a direct connection to the internet and acts as a hub. Especially for those in rural areas that cannot get DSL or Cable internet access, a satellite ISP can be a good way to get broadband service. Some satellite systems use a phone line and others use a in-sight tower system to send upstream requests. |
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