Date First Published: 7th February 2022
Topic: Computer Networking
Subtopic: Data Transmission Technologies
Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions
Difficulty: MediumDifficulty Level: 5/10
Learn more about what bandwidth is in this article.
Bandwidth is a measure of the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted within a physical or wireless communication network in a given period of time. It can be thought of as the network capacity as it measures how fast data can be sent over a network connection, which is calculated in Mb/s (megabits per second). The average bandwidth ranges from 12-25 Mb/s. The faster the bandwidth, the faster the sending and transmission of data will be.
Bandwidth is not to be confused with speed. Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be received per second and speed is how fast the information can be received or downloaded.
The bandwidth of a network is based on a number of factors, such as the ISP, the type of subscription, and the internet access technology. In most cases, bandwidth can only be increased by the ISP, but it can also be increased by using a VPN as ISPs can sometimes throttle traffic.
Different internet access technologies have different amounts of bandwidth. For example, modem/dialup only has the capability to transfer a maximum of 56 kbit/s and 100 gigabit ethernet has the capability to transfer 100 gbit/s of data.
| Internet Access Technology | Maximum Bandwidth |
|---|---|
| Modem/Dialup | 56 kbit/s |
| ADSL Lite | 1.5 Mbit/s |
| T1/DS1 | 1.544 Mbit/s |
| E1/E-carrier | 2.048 Mbit/s |
| ADSL1 | 4 Mbit/s |
| Ethernet | 10 Mbit/s |
| Wireless 802.11b | 11 Mbit/s |
| ADSL2+ | 24 Mbit/s |
| T3/DS3 | 44.736 Mbit/s |
| Wireless 802.11g | 54 Mbit/s |
| Fast Ethernet | 100 Mbit/s |
| OC3 | 155 Mbit/s |
| Wireless 802.11n | 600 Mbit/s |
| OC12 | 622 Mbit/s |
| Gigabit Ethernet | 1 Gbit/s |
| Wireless 802.11ac | 1.3 Gbit/s |
| OC48 | 2.5 Gbit/s |
| SuperSpeed USB | 5 Gbit/s |
| Wireless 802.11ad | 7 Gbit/s |
| OC192 | 9.6 Gbit/s |
| 10 Gigabit Ethernet, SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbit/s | 10 Gbit/s |
| SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbit/s | 20 Gbit/s |
| Thunderbolt 3 | 40 Gbit/s |
| 100 Gigabit Ethernet | 100 Gbit/s |
The term 'bandwidth' is often used differently in web hosting services. Instead of the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted over a network connection in a given period of time, it measures the amount of data that has been transferred from the website or server per month. Bandwidth is measured in megabytes and gigabytes. An example of how the term 'bandwidth' is used in web hosting can be seen below.
Unless a webpage is cached, every time a webpage is visited, the server of that website always uses some bandwidth. For example, if the size of a HTML webpage was 100 KB and it contained two images that were both 1 MB in size, 2.1 MB of bandwidth would be required in order for that webpage to be loaded in the user’s web browser. Caching stores a temporary copy of all previously downloaded images, JS, and CSS files in order to reduce the amount of bandwidth that the website or server uses and to increase the loading time of the page.
Web hosting companies, especially free ones, have a bandwidth limit. It is the maximum amount of data that a website or server can use per month. At the end of each month, it usually resets. When a user has reached the maximum bandwidth, their website may be taken offline for a short period of time, usually until the next month. In addition, their website may show errors when it is visited.
If you’re wondering what your bandwidth is, a helpful website to find this out is: www.bandwidthplace.com. This will tell you your download and upload speed.
If so, it is important that you tell me as soon as possible on this page.
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