What is your ISP speed?

[yzmxer608]

So I really do have a download speed of 5.16 Mega bytes? I only have AT&T dsl.

 

[oldskool]

That has to be so nice with speeds in the megabytes! I usually download around 650 kilobytes/s.

Edit: I'm confused now, Mb is megabytes, mb is megabits right? Why does mine say it has a dl speed of 5.16Mb if I download at around 650Kb/s?

MB = Megabytes
Mb or mb = megabits

your download speed is measured in megabits/second.

EDIT: Ok, I decided to try to be more clear about this... the term megabytes is the unit of measurement for file size(s), whereas the term megabits (and with slower connections, kilobits) describes the download and upload speeds.

 

[yzmxer608]

Do you mean Mb or mb = megabits? Thanks for that, I thought Mb was megabytes but I see that's MB.

 

[oldskool]

Do you mean Mb or mb = megabits? Thanks for that, I thought Mb was megabytes but I see that's MB.

megabits/second is the download and upload speeds, megabytes is file size. My last post was just about the same time as yours.

mb= megabits
MB=megabytes

 

[yzmxer608]

So mega bytes are never used for internet speeds? Is it the same with kila bytes and bits? I've been thinking of this internet speed thing the wrong way this whole time haha.

 

[philbar71]

^ yes MB is for size and mb is for speed.

 

[yzmxer608]

I get it now, thanks guys. I would have been looking at it wrong forever if you didn't point it out .

 

[LFCJohnSmith]

Well I have to claim a victory here as it seems that I have the fastest download speeds on this thread. The only person who got a higher download used the Universitys high speed back bone so that dont count as it isnt available to the public on to students living on the uni campus. It as just confirmed what I already know and that is I am great.

 

[Trotter]

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Um, MB and Mb can both be used for describing speed as they are both size units.

mega is a prefix which basically means "million".
kilo means "thousand", giga means "billion" etc. you can google the units if you want.
A BIT is a binary number (either a 1 or a 0), a BYTE = 8 BITS

MegaBYTES are used to measure really fast connections because a megaBYTE is bigger than a megaBIT and thus the final number in megaBYTES will be smaller than the corresponding number in megaBITS (easier to work with).

MegaBITS are generally used for fast connections.

KiloBITS are generally used for slower connections.

You really can use any speed designation you want for any connection, it doesn't really matter. It's like saying the distance from my house to the train station is 8000 meters OR 8 kilometers