In layman’s terms, the Internet speed of your Internet connection is nothing but the number of ‘bits’ transferred to your computer in a second. A bit is a measure of digital information – in fact the smallest measure.
Then there’s Kilo bits (Kb) and Mega bits (Mb). One Kilo bit is equivalent to 1024 bits and one Mega bit is 1024 Kilo bits.
Once again…
1Kb = 1024 bits and 1Mb = 1024 Kb (or 1024 x 1024 bits = 1048576 bits)
The Internet speed
Now, when someone says that he has an Internet speed of 1Mbps, it just means that his Internet connection can transfer 1048576 bits to his computer at best. That is the best case. Sometimes the actual speed can be much lesser based on the Internet traffic parameters and technical problems.
Bit v/s Byte
Byte is probably a more common term that you use on a daily basis. A Byte (B in capital) is equivalent to 8 bits (b in small letter).
This is what you normally see on your File Explorer when you browse file’s properties. The bigger measures of file or data size are KB (KB in Capital = Kilobytes) and MB (Megabytes).
Now, coming back to your Internet speed topic – I just mentioned that 1Mbps connection means something that can transfer up to 1024 Kilo bits of information per second. This, in BYTE terms, would just mean 1024 / 8 Kilo Bytes of data being transferred to your PC every second. That means 128 Kilo Bytes (KB per second). So if you are downloading a 128KB image from the Internet using a 1Mbps connection, it may take just one second!
Using the same connection, a 5MB MP3 music file will take 40 seconds.
How to Test your Internet Speed?
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) might have provided you an Internet Speed Meter or speed testing application for your use. If not, you may use the following online Internet speed testers to actually test verify your Internet Connection speed:
If you don’t want to use the online speed tester applications, you may download one of the free Internet speed testing applications from here.
I hope that the Internet speed matter is much clearer for you now. Have fun net surfing!