Bandwidth and download speeds can be tricky to understand. If you don't know the math behind it, you could end up being seriously let down once you commit to a service plan. Every service plan will advertise their speed but keep in mind it is the maximum speed, not what you'll be getting all the time. Adverse weather conditions, distance from your provider, other people on your network, or restrictions imposed by your provider all contribute to this.

To start off, here are a couple of equations to solve the difference between bits (advertised speed) and bytes (what you're probably use to seeing when downloading):

Advertised max speed in kbps divided by 8 = Your max download speed in KB/sec
OR
Your download speed in KB/sec times 8 = Advertised max speed in kbps

  • If you sign up for a 768kbps plan, your max download speed will be around 96 KB/sec
  • If you sign up for a 1.5mbps plan (that's 1500 kbps), your max download speed will be around 187.5 KB/sec
  • If you sign up for a 5mbps plan (that's 5000 kbps), your max download speed will be around 625 KB/sec
That's it.

Below you will find more information on the math behind all of this. It's a lot of technical jargon but if you want to know why those equations work you should read on...



...you have been warned!









Here's a breakdown on sizes:
MegaByte (MB)> KiloByte (KB)> Byte (B)

Most people know bandwidth speed by what shows up when they download a file. You'll typically see something like "X" KB/sec for your file download speed.

KB or kB = KiloBytes
MB or mB = MegaBytes
(notice the upper case B)

Let's say you're browsing around for a new internet service provider. They advertise a two plans. Their "Budget Plan" has with a maximum download speed of 768kbps. Their "Choice Plan" has a maximum download speed of 1.5Mbps.

kb or Kb = kilobits
Mb or mb = megabits
(notice the lower case b)

At first glance, your 768kbps plan might look amazing, but keep in mind that it will not let you download at 768 KB/sec. Why? It all comes down to how computers handle numbers and information.

Computers work in a language called binary. It's the most basic form of computer language. In binary, a "bit" is either a 1 or a 0. A "byte" is 8 bits. For example: A string of ones and zeroes (bits) like 10101101 is called a byte. Notice that there are 8 bits in that byte.

Confused?

There are a couple of equations to figure all this out:

Advertised max speed in kbps divided by 8 = Your max download speed in KB/sec
OR
Your download speed in KB/sec times 8 = Advertised max speed in kbps

To convert kbps to mbps, divide your amount in kbps by 1000:
1500kbps = 1.5mbps
5000kbps = 5mbps