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Members of the ISP-Wireless list discuss the basic terminology of the ISP universe: The difference between bytes and bits. You probably know the difference, but if you don't, this article is required reading.

[March 2, 2001]

On the ISP-Wireless list in February, PP asked a seemingly simple question:

"What's the difference between MBps and Mbps?"

A number of respondents provided a simple answer:

[ED explained] "Alas, there is much erroneous capitalization; B=byte, and b=bit."

[KA added] "There are 8 bits per byte."

JP gave some depth to the definition:

"A bit is a single signal that can be either on or off; a zero or a one. A byte is a series of eight bits, such as 01010101. Using the ASCII codes, we make various characters out of bytes. Each letter of the alphabet, spaces, symbols, etc. is a single byte. For example, if you had a link that was the slowest thing imaginable going at only one single bit per second, and you sent a sentence that contained 100 characters (or bytes) it would take 800 seconds. However, if that connection went at one byte per second, it would only take 100 seconds to send. Got it? Good."

CR took it further:

"And, a vast majority of the time, any parallel data (e.g. SCSI, memory, etc.) are in bytes, while serial data (e.g. modems, wireless, etc.) are in bits. If someone starts talking about a point-to-point link in megabytes per second, it might be time to go somewhere else with your business…"

—End