Broadband's '100 Mbit/s' is megabits, not megabytes: divide by 8 for the download rate in MB/s. 100 Mbit/s gives about 12.5 MB/s, so a 1 GB file takes over a minute, not ten seconds.
MB/s (bytes) and Mb/s (bits) differ by a factor of 8, and the letter case is the only visible difference. Gigabit networking at 1 Gbit/s moves 125 MB/s of file data. Always check whether a spec uses the big or the small b.
Network speeds always count in decimal: 1 kbit/s = 1,000 bit/s and 1 Mbit/s = 1,000,000 bit/s. Binary prefixes (Kibit/s, Mibit/s, based on 1,024) are a different scale mostly seen in download managers. Don't mix the scales when comparing measured speed against what your ISP promised.
Quick conversion quiz
Score:0
17.4 bit per second equals 0.0174 kilobit per second.
Correct answer: 17.4 bit per second = 0.0174 kilobit per second.
250 gigabit per second equals 2.5e+5 megabit per second.
Correct answer: 250 gigabit per second = 2.5e+5 megabit per second.
16.8 gigabit per second equals 1.68e+4 megabit per second.
Correct answer: 16.8 gigabit per second = 1.68e+4 megabit per second.
29 kilobit per second equals 5.8e+4 bit per second.
Correct answer: 29 kilobit per second = 2.9e+4 bit per second.
74 megabyte per second equals 592 megabit per second.
Correct answer: 74 megabyte per second = 592 megabit per second.
Definitions
megabyte per second
(MB/s)
A unit of data transfer speed equal to 8 megabits per second.
Megabytes per second (MB/s) is often used to measure file transfer speeds or disk I/O. It is important to distinguish this from Mbps (megabits per second), which is 8 times slower.
megabit per second
(Mbit/s)
Standard unit for internet connection speeds.
Megabits per second (Mbps or Mbit/s) is the standard unit for measuring bandwidth and internet connection speeds. One megabit per second corresponds to transferring one million bits every second.
byte per second
(B/s)
8 bits per second.
One byte per second (B/s) is a rate equal to eight bits per second. It is commonly used in low-level data transfer contexts.
bit per second
(bps)
The base unit of data rate. Formally bit/s.
Bit per second (bps) is the primary unit of data transfer rate. While 'bps' is common in informal contexts, 'bit/s' is the formal abbreviation. It should not be confused with B/s (byte per second), where 1 B/s = 8 bps. It is also distinct from 'baud', which refers to symbol rate.
Gibibit per second (Gibit/s) is a binary unit of data rate defined by the IEC. Unlike the decimal gigabit (10^9 bits), the gibibit is exactly 2^30 bits (1,073,741,824 bits).
Why does my 100 Mbps internet only download at around 10–12 MB/s?
Because the plan is in Mbps (bits), but downloads are shown in MB/s (bytes). Also, real-world speeds are slightly lower due to Wi‑Fi, congestion, and protocol overhead.
Yes. In networking, 1 gigabit per second equals 1000 megabits per second.
What is the difference between bandwidth and latency?
Bandwidth (Mbps) is how much data per second you can transfer. Latency (ms) is the delay before data starts moving. Low latency matters a lot for gaming and videos.
How do I use the data‑rate converter on konvertera.nu?
Enter the speed you have (like Mbps), select the target unit (like MB/s), and the converter will show the equivalent value.