A bit per second (bps) measures data transmission rate: one bit transmitted each second. Network speeds use larger decimal units because modern connections transmit many bits. section 3.2
Know these common rate units:
- 1 kilobit (kb) = 1,000 bits; 1 megabit (Mb) = 1,000,000 bits. section 3.2
- 1 gigabit (Gb) = 1,000,000,000 bits; 1 terabit (Tb) = 1,000,000,000,000 bits. section 3.2
- Do not confuse bits with bytes: a byte contains 8 bits. Base-2 quantities use kibibit, mebibit, gibibit, and tebibit instead. section 3.2 section 3.5
Reading a network rate
A connection rated at 100 Mbps transmits 100 million bits per second. Other common labels include 56 kbps, 10 Gbps, and 1 Tbps. section 3.2
Figure 3.1 A router sends 1 byte of data to a switch. Changes in the voltage of the electric signal indicate values of 0 or 1.
Visualizes a router sending a byte as voltage changes representing binary 0 and 1. section 3.2
