Quote:
Originally Posted by GeeCee
1 Gbit = 128 megabytes
Keep in mind that internet connections are typically metered in Mbps or Gbps rather than megabytes or gigabytes per second. For example, Shaw's High Speed Extreme internet access is marketed as 15 Mbps, but in terms of megabytes this is actually 1.875 megabytes per second maximum as there 1 megabit = 0.125 megabytes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_rate_units has more conversion factors |
As a sidenote,
Shaw advertises the line capacity, not YOUR capacity. Your cable modem essentially listens to all the traffic on the line and waits for open space (Yes, that means the connection is not really secure ( unless encrypted ) and you can technically listen to your neighbour's data stream, with some spoofing/hacking of your modem ). So, that speed only applies
IF you're the only one online.
The capacity of the freight train going by your neighbourhood may be 100 cars, but if the corridor is heavily used, you may only get to use 5% of them.
xDSL is different, and you have your own set of twisted pair to the local box ( and from there, it's usually fibre ). Shorter train, but you have full use of it... including matching upload and download speeds, if you wish). Most xDSL is ADSL because the "pipe" is smaller so it's a better use of resources.
Fibre can be sync or Async. It doesn't have the same upload/download handicaps as it was purpose built for data... unlike cable, which was built for broadcasting out.