Network Bandwidth

The rate at which the network can deliver data to the destination point

The amount of data that can be transmitted over a network in a fixed amount of time. Bandwidth is the fundamental networking parameter, and is usually measured in kilobits, megabits or gigabits per second (Kbps, Mbps, or Gbps).

Rate of transfer

Available bandwidth determined by wire and hardware

You may have High-Bandwidth and bad (high) latency (eg. Satellite)

A second of…

Or live streaming

9600bps = small email ~ 1,2 ko

56kbps = web graphic ~ 7ko

1Mbps = Document ~ 125 ko (cable, ADSL)

10Mbps = 1 floppy disk ~ 1,25 Mo (ethernet)

100Mbps = 2 MP3 songs ~ 12,25 Mo (ethernet)

1Gbps = 10m CD audio ~ 125 Mo (ethernet)

10Gbps = 2 CDs ~ 1,25 Go

100Gbps = 2 DVDs ~ 12,5 Go

56kbps = audio

300kbps = very useful video (cable, ADSL)

1500kbps, 2.2 Mbps= VHS video

6Mbps = PAL video

20Mbps = comp. HDTV

270Mbps = raw PAL video

1.5Gbps = raw HDTV

1Tbps = 50,000 channels of compressed HDTV

NB. : Mbps = 1000 x 1000 bit per second, kbps = 1000 bps, Gbps = 1000 Mbps   ..... minus overhead !

MB/s (Megabytes/s) : 1024x1024 bytes per second

The standard for carriers and networks is that Mbps is 1000x1000 bits per second (and Gigabit/s is 1000x1000x1000). That's also the transport rate, not the payload rate - so you need to allow for overheads of whatever protocols you are using. (e.g. tcp/ip/atm/sdh - you lose a lot of payload bandwidth that way.)
Conversely, if somebody quotes MB/s (Megabytes/s) they do usually mean 1024x1024 bytes per second.

Back in the bad old days, a 1 Megabyte floppy was 1024x1000 !