Broadband rates going up, while GPRS and voice rates going down -- any explaination?

[techfreek]

I think that the "1/8th" from bits to bytes is what he meant



Hehe, unfortunately not. to get 2 megabytes per second you'll need roughly 16 megabits.

I was talking about download speed!!! 2mb/s download speed on a 4mbit leased line not possible?

 

[mgcarley]

I was talking about download speed!!! 2mb/s download speed on a 4mbit leased line not possible?

Yes, that's what I mean. ISPs advertise the connection speed in kilobits/megabits per second, your computer displays your download speed in kilobytes/megabytes per second.

On a 4mbit/s line (as advertised by your ISP) you will not receive more than 512kbyte/s (as displayed by your computer). As mentioned, in order to get 2mbyte/s, you will need at least a 16mbit/s line.

 

[mehrotra.akash]

Major confusion about unitsmbps or mb/s -- megabits per second -- usually this is used for advertisementsmBps or mB/s -- megaBYTES per second -- most programs display this speed8b=1B8 bits = 1 Bytea 4mbps connection will give you a 4mbps download speed == 512kBps download speedAlso, AFAIK there is no such thing as "Download speed" and "Browsing speed" Its just your connection speed, which will normally be the same regardless of whether you are downloading or browsing

 

[techfreek]

Doubt Clarified!!

 

[mgcarley]

Major confusion about units
mbps or mb/s -- megabits per second -- usually this is used for advertisements
mBps or mB/s -- megaBYTES per second -- most programs display this speed
8b=1B
8 bits = 1 Byte
a 4mbps connection will give you a 4mbps download speed == 512kBps download speed

Also, AFAIK there is no such thing as "Download speed" and "Browsing speed" Its just your connection speed, which will normally be the same regardless of whether you are downloading or browsing

I personally think it's the mbps/mBps capitalization or lack thereof which confuses people. That's why I write in mbit/s and mbyte/s (or kbit/s and kbyte/s as the case may be).

 

[mehrotra.akash]

I personally think it's the mbps/mBps capitalization or lack thereof which confuses people. That's why I write in mbit/s and mbyte/s (or kbit/s and kbyte/s as the case may be).

Very likely..

but still, any idea whats the origin of the concept : download speed = 1/8 of browsing speed

Quite a few people, and customer care of both Airtel and Tata have told this to me.

 

---

[mgcarley]

Very likely..

but still, any idea whats the origin of the concept : download speed = 1/8 of browsing speed

Quite a few people, and customer care of both Airtel and Tata have told this to me.

Well... it goes back a long way (as far as computing is concerned), so these days it's more or less a tradition than anything else. I suppose it could kind of be compared to any other measurements - metres per second (speed) versus litres per second (volume), yet if you convert them correctly you could use them interchangeably (in theory... since a river could be said to run at x metres per second OR litres per second).

Bit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Byte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ASCII - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UTF-8 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[cst1992]

Well... it goes back a long way (as far as computing is concerned), so these days it's more or less a tradition than anything else. I suppose it could kind of be compared to any other measurements - metres per second (speed) versus litres per second (volume), yet if you convert them correctly you could use them interchangeably (in theory... since a river could be said to run at x metres per second OR litres per second).

Bit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Byte - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
ASCII - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UTF-8 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, the speed of a river cannot be measured in litres per second (too low a unit), so the speed could be measured in metres per second considered any unit area over the water surface.

 

[mgcarley]

Well, the speed of a river cannot be measured in litres per second (too low a unit), so the speed could be measured in metres per second considered any unit area over the water surface.

Well... it can. Either Lakhs, Millions or Crores of litres, or it could be a really small river (just like the speed of Internet in India as it's mostly still measured in kilobits)

 

[bitgeek]

I personally think it's the mbps/mBps capitalization or lack thereof which confuses people. That's why I write in mbit/s and mbyte/s (or kbit/s and kbyte/s as the case may be).
If you consider proper SI prefixes, it should be Mbit.