Online! The Book

Translating Transfer Rates to Transmitted Data

Use the following figures when determining how much data is being transmitted:

• A single bit can either be a 0 (zero) or a 1 (one).

• It takes 8 bits to make a byte.

• Kbps means kilobits per second.

• One kilobit equals 1,000 bits.

• Mbps means megabits per second.

• One megabit equals 1,000,000 bits.

For purposes of simplifying the math, it usually takes 1 byte (8 bits) of data to make up a single letter or character. In other words, the letter takes up about 8 bits (1 byte) of space.

Protocols on the Internet The Internet has what's known as TCP/IP protocols, which include all of the following: Transmission Control ...