Quick clarification on Broadband Speeds

When a company advertises an 8Mb connection, does that mean 8 megabytes of
data transfer per second? Or are we talking 8 megabits, or even something
else?

In practice, assuming the phone line supports it and everything else is at
optimal setting, what is the maximum data transfer rate on an "8Mb"
connection?

Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
Wireless 54Mbps router? I assume that in this case Mbps means "Megabits per
second" and I was led to believe that these wireless routers are around half
the speed of a wired network.

Would I be right in thinking that if "8Mb" means "8 megabits", then I would
notice no difference between a 54Mbps wireless connection and a 100Mbps
wired connection, whereas if "8Mb" means "8 Megabytes" then you would, since
8 megabytes = 64 megabits and this exceeds the top speed of the wireless
router?

Hope someone can help with the confusion.

Many thanks,

Tanel.

"Tanel Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> When a company advertises an 8Mb connection, does that mean 8 megabytes of
> data transfer per second? Or are we talking 8 megabits, or even something
> else?
>
> In practice, assuming the phone line supports it and everything else is at
> optimal setting, what is the maximum data transfer rate on an "8Mb"
> connection?
>
> Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
> Wireless 54Mbps router? I assume that in this case Mbps means "Megabits
> per
> second" and I was led to believe that these wireless routers are around
> half
> the speed of a wired network.
>
> Would I be right in thinking that if "8Mb" means "8 megabits", then I
> would
> notice no difference between a 54Mbps wireless connection and a 100Mbps
> wired connection, whereas if "8Mb" means "8 Megabytes" then you would,
> since
> 8 megabytes = 64 megabits and this exceeds the top speed of the wireless
> router?
>
> Hope someone can help with the confusion.

Generally all transmissions of data are measured in BITS and storage is
measured in BYTES. All internet connections are measured in megabits and so
are other networking figures such as ethernet and wireless. Therefore as you
seem to know, you need to divide any quoted figures by 8 to get a speed in
bytes. Just so you know, wireless transmission speeds are completely false
advertising. You will never achieve more than half the advertised rate with
standard kit, and even then only with a good signal.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Tanel Kagan <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote:

> When a company advertises an 8Mb connection, does that mean 8
> megabytes of data transfer per second? Or are we talking 8 megabits,
> or even something else?
>
> In practice, assuming the phone line supports it and everything else
> is at optimal setting, what is the maximum data transfer rate on an
> "8Mb" connection?
>
> Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
> Wireless 54Mbps router? I assume that in this case Mbps means
> "Megabits per second" and I was led to believe that these wireless
> routers are around half the speed of a wired network.
>
> Would I be right in thinking that if "8Mb" means "8 megabits", then I
> would notice no difference between a 54Mbps wireless connection and a
> 100Mbps wired connection, whereas if "8Mb" means "8 Megabytes" then
> you would, since 8 megabytes = 64 megabits and this exceeds the top
> speed of the wireless router?
>
> Hope someone can help with the confusion.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Tanel.

Your 8 Meg internet connection is 8M BITS (not bytes) per second. So you
divide by 8 to get bytes EXCEPT that there is a 15-20% overhead for all the
handshaking and control data - so you get a more accurate estimate of data
throughput if you divide by 10 rather than 8. Your 8Mbps line will probably
thus deliver about 800k bytes per second when going flat out. However, many
internet servers will be unable to keep up with this - so you'll see a lower
rate.

Your wireless network is far faster than the internet connection - even
allowing for the fact that you won't achieve anything like 54 Mbps in
practice - so that won't be a bottleneck.
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 17:10:25 UTC, "Tanel Kagan"
<tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote:

> In practice, assuming the phone line supports it and everything else is at
> optimal setting, what is the maximum data transfer rate on an "8Mb"
> connection?

For a start, BT scale back the actual data rate. For example, a full
8Mb/s connection will get a real 7.15Mb/s by the time overheads and BT
scaling are taken into account. 6816Kb/s will get 6Mb/s, etc.
--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:10:25 +0100, in uk.telecom.broadband , "Tanel
Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote:

>When a company advertises an 8Mb connection, does that mean 8 megabytes of
>data transfer per second? Or are we talking 8 megabits, or even something
>else?

it means a maximum data download rate, including system overheads, of
eight megabits per second. The clue is the lower-case b which means
bits. An upper-case B means Bytes.

>Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
>Wireless 54Mbps router?

No, since 54 >> 8. :-)

>Would I be right in thinking that if "8Mb" means "8 megabits", then I would
>notice no difference between a 54Mbps wireless connection and a 100Mbps
>wired connection,

Yup.
Mark McIntyre
--

nospam wrote:

> Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
> Wireless 54Mbps router?

No. The bottleneck is your internet connection. Having said that, I have an
802.11b segment on my network, that is slower than my 10Mbit Telewest
circuit - ie sites I know that consistently get the full 10Mbit/s on my
wired part of the lan, get half that on the 802.11b segment.

> I assume that in this case Mbps means "Megabits
> per second" and I was led to believe that these wireless routers are
> around half the speed of a wired network.

Yeah - if you were referring to half the speed of an *unswitched* 100mbit
network, where the whole thing slows down to 1mbit/s because someone with a
poor signal just started transmitting data.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
00:03:06 up 18 days, 8:52, 4 users, load average: 0.90, 1.45, 1.25
This is my BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMSTICK

"Tanel Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> When a company advertises an 8Mb connection, does that mean 8 megabytes of
> data transfer per second? Or are we talking 8 megabits, or even something
> else?
>
> In practice, assuming the phone line supports it and everything else is at
> optimal setting, what is the maximum data transfer rate on an "8Mb"
> connection?
>
> Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
> Wireless 54Mbps router? I assume that in this case Mbps means "Megabits
per
> second" and I was led to believe that these wireless routers are around
half
> the speed of a wired network.
>
> Would I be right in thinking that if "8Mb" means "8 megabits", then I
would
> notice no difference between a 54Mbps wireless connection and a 100Mbps
> wired connection, whereas if "8Mb" means "8 Megabytes" then you would,
since
> 8 megabytes = 64 megabits and this exceeds the top speed of the wireless
> router?
>
> Hope someone can help with the confusion.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Tanel.
>
I must say at least I am a happy customer with a 2 Mbits connection and a 54
Mbytes transmission for what I do.
Wanadoo did not promise 9Mb.connection.
Blair

"Rob Walker" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eyu1g.55971$(E-Mail Removed). uk...
>
> "Tanel Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > When a company advertises an 8Mb connection, does that mean 8 megabytes
of
> > data transfer per second? Or are we talking 8 megabits, or even
something
> > else?
> >
> > In practice, assuming the phone line supports it and everything else is
at
> > optimal setting, what is the maximum data transfer rate on an "8Mb"
> > connection?
> >
> > Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
> > Wireless 54Mbps router? I assume that in this case Mbps means "Megabits
> > per
> > second" and I was led to believe that these wireless routers are around
> > half
> > the speed of a wired network.
> >
> > Would I be right in thinking that if "8Mb" means "8 megabits", then I
> > would
> > notice no difference between a 54Mbps wireless connection and a 100Mbps
> > wired connection, whereas if "8Mb" means "8 Megabytes" then you would,
> > since
> > 8 megabytes = 64 megabits and this exceeds the top speed of the wireless
> > router?
> >
> > Hope someone can help with the confusion.
>
> Generally all transmissions of data are measured in BITS and storage is
> measured in BYTES. All internet connections are measured in megabits and
so
> are other networking figures such as ethernet and wireless. Therefore as
you
> seem to know, you need to divide any quoted figures by 8 to get a speed in
> bytes. Just so you know, wireless transmission speeds are completely false
> advertising. You will never achieve more than half the advertised rate
with
> standard kit, and even then only with a good signal.

What about the start and stop bits?
You have to divide by 10

:O|


>
>

"Blair" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e273p7$92f$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Tanel Kagan" <tanelkagan@(nospam)hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > When a company advertises an 8Mb connection, does that mean 8 megabytes
of
> > data transfer per second? Or are we talking 8 megabits, or even
something
> > else?
> >
> > In practice, assuming the phone line supports it and everything else is
at
> > optimal setting, what is the maximum data transfer rate on an "8Mb"
> > connection?
> >
> > Also, will my speeds be affected if I access around the house with a
> > Wireless 54Mbps router? I assume that in this case Mbps means "Megabits
> per
> > second" and I was led to believe that these wireless routers are around
> half
> > the speed of a wired network.
> >
> > Would I be right in thinking that if "8Mb" means "8 megabits", then I
> would
> > notice no difference between a 54Mbps wireless connection and a 100Mbps
> > wired connection, whereas if "8Mb" means "8 Megabytes" then you would,
> since
> > 8 megabytes = 64 megabits and this exceeds the top speed of the wireless
> > router?
> >
> > Hope someone can help with the confusion.
> >
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Tanel.
> >
> I must say at least I am a happy customer with a 2 Mbits connection and a
54
> Mbytes transmission for what I do.



What the point of a 54meg transmission? You r never going 2 use it.

> Wanadoo did not promise 9Mb.connection.
> Blair
>
>

Tad Confused wrote:

> What the point of a 54meg transmission? You r never going 2 use it.

File sharing between PCs on your home network ?