kbps Mbps Gpbs MBps etc

steve!_10

Wig wrote:

And I just worked out that

1Gbps could equal 125MBps

I say "could" because in data transfer there is no set rule as to whether they use base 10 or base 8 (?) !

Wouldn't it be a good idea to finally set some logical new worldwide rules about how to measure speed transfer and to use the same units for storage aswell.

I think 125 MBps is a much better way of saying how fast the broadband is in Hong Kong.

It won't break down quite as easily as that. Confusingly 1Mbps is actually the equiv of 1,000kbps and not 1,024kbps (as opposed to 1,024KB in 1MB). There are also overheads involved with the packets (basically ~7% of IP data transferred on a download doesn't make it to your harddrive), so it wouldn't translate to 125MB of stored data once it gets pulled through.

Wig

albertross wrote:

Bits are the lowest unit of measurement, and what computers jiggle about all day long.

Until recently those comms speeds where unheard of, so everthing was and still is measured in bits/second.

8 bits in a byte
1024 bytes in a kilobyte
1024 kilobytes in a megabyte

unless of course, you are asking a disk manufacturers marketing department, who don't know that computers use binary..

all powers of 2..

But the stupid part of it is that in data transfer

1 bit
1 Kilobit = 1000bits
1megabit = 1,000,000 bits
1Gigabit = 1,000,000,000 bits

Or depending on what time of day it is or what colour socks you have on they can equally be

1kilobit = 1024 bits
1megabit = 1,048,576 bits
1 Gigabit = can't be bothered,

So the IEC have invented new terms kibibyte = 1,024bytes
mebibyte = 1,048,576 bytes

to try to sort the problem out, but why can't everyone just realise there is a problem here and switch over to a new system?