Internet Connection Speeds

I figured I’d put this out so someone can read it all in one place.

Analog copper moved onto digital copper moved onto fiber optics. The best way to describe bandwidth and latency is to think of it this way:
Bandwidth is how much water can go through the pipe, latency is how much pressure. Or, bandwidth is how many lanes the road has and latency is how fast the cars are moving. Or (another car one) bandwidth is how fast the cars can drive and latency is how fast they can accelerate.
Narrowband references anything less than 56Kbps. Broadband references anything greater than 56Kbps.
FTTN – Fiber to the node – Connects the ISP to a street cabinet in your neighborhood via Fiber, and then copper to your home.
FTTC – Fiber to the Capinet/Curb – Connects the ISP to a cabinet within 300m of your home, and then copper to your home.
FTTB/FTTH – Fiber to the building/basement Fiber to the Home – Fiber comes all the way to a hand-off just outside of the living area of the home.

9600 baud modem. A whopping 1.2KB/sec. Still in use for null serial connections to many network devices.
14.4 modem. Analog, standard RJ11 phone line. 1.8KB/sec
19.2 modem. Analog, standard RJ11 phone line. 2.4KB/sec
33.6 modem. Analog, standard RJ11 phone line. 4.2KB/sec
56k flex modem. Analog, standard RJ11 phone line limited to 53kbps on the lines. 7KB/sec

64Kbps ISDN. Digital, standard RJ11 phone line. 64Kb in both directions. 8KB/sec
128Kbps ISND. Digital, standard RJ11 phone line. 128Kb in both directions. 16KB/sec

xDSL. Digital/Analog, usually running over standard RJ11 phone lines. Ranges from 128Kbps to 24Mbps. 16KB/sec to 3072KB/sec (theoretical max of 50Mbit)
Cable. Digital, usually running over RG59 coaxial cable. Ranges from 256Kbps to 50Mbps. 32KB/sec to 6400KB/sec (theoretical max of 400Mbit)

DS0 – Copper – 64Kbps. 8KB/sec
DS1 (T1) – Copper – 1.544Mbps.
DS2 (T2) – Copper – 6.312Mbps.
DS3 (T3) – Copper – 44.736Mbps.
DS4 (T4) – Fiber – 274.176Mbps.
DS5 (T5) – Fiber – 400.352Mbps.

OC1 – Fiber – 51.84Mbps. 6635.52KB/sec 6.48MB/sec 0.006GB/sec
OC3 – Fiber – 155.52Mbps. 19906.56KB/sec 19.44MB/sec 0.019GB/sec
OC12 – Fiber – 622.08Mbps. 79626.24KB/sec 77.76MB/sec 0.076GB/sec
OC24 – Fiber – 1244.16Mbps. 159252.48KB/sec 155.52MB/sec 0.152GB/sec
OC48 – Fiber – 2488.32Mbps. 318504.96KB/sec 311.04MB/sec 0.304GB/sec
OC96 – Fiber – 4976.64Mbps. 637009.92KB/sec 622.08MB/sec 0.608GB/sec
OC192 – Fiber – 9953.28Mbps. 1274019.84KB/sec 1244.16MB/sec 1.215GB/sec
OC768 – Fiber – 39813.12Mbps. 5096079.36KB/sec 4976.64MB/sec 4.86GB/Sec

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