Network Communication Speed Comparison Table

 

*Note: In the Information Technology field, the lowercase "k" is used to describe decimal kilobits usually used in networking (e.g, 28kbps = 28 * 10^3 bps = 28,000 bps), whereas the uppercase "K" describes binary kilobytes usually used with memory capacity (e.g, 1 KB = 1 * 2^10 bytes = 1024 bytes) .

On a side note, although 8 bits (b) equals one byte (B), some hard disk manufacturers rate their drives using decimal Megabytes (e.g, 1 MB = 1 x 10^6 bytes = 1,000,000 bytes).

 

bps

bits per second. (8 bits = 1 bytes)

kbps

kilobits per second. (kilo* = thousands)

Mbps

Megabits per second. (Mega = millions)

MBps

Megabytes per second. (Mega = millions)

Gbps

Gigabits per second. (Giga = billions)

OC-n

[Optical Carrier] A basic unit defined in increments of 51.84 Mbps (OC-1/STS-1 speed), where n is a multiple of that unit. Uses optical fiber network.

STM-n

[Synchronous Transfer Module] A basic unit defined in increments of 155.52 Mbps (OC-3/STM-1 speed), where n is a multiple of that unit.

STS-n

[Synchronous Transfer Signal] Similar to OC-n but uses electrical network.

SCSI

Small Computer System Interface

 

 

Type of Service

Theoretical Throughput

Plain Old Telephone System (POTS)

28.8 kbps

Switched 56

56 kbps

Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS)

56 kbps - 34 Mbps

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

64 kbps

DS0

64 kbps

ISDN Dual Channel

128 kbps

LocalTalk

230.4 kbps

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
(ADSL)

512k - 8 Mbps (Downstream)
256k - 768k    (upstream)

Bluetooth wireless PAN (2.4 GHz band)

720 kbps

IEEE 802.11 wireless (2.4 GHz band)

1 and 2 Mbps

Cable Modem

1 Mbps

DS1/
T1

1.544 Mbps

PCS Wireless

2 Mbps

E1

2.048 Mbps

DS-2/
T2

6.312 Mbps

E2

8.448 Mbps

10Base-T Ethernet

10 Mbps

IEEE 802.11b wireless Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz band)

11 Mbps

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

12 Mbps

U-NII Wireless

20 - 24 Mbps

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

25.6 - 155.52 Mbps

E3

34.368 Mbps

SCSI-1

40 Mbps (5 MBps)

DS3/
T3

44.736 Mbps

OC-1/STS-1 Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)

51.84 Mbps

IEEE 802.11a wireless WLAN (5 GHz band)

54 Mbps

IEEE 802.11g wireless WLAN (2.4 GHz band)

54 Mbps / 11 Mbps

Fast SCSI

80 Mbps (10 MBps)

100Base-T Ethernet (Fast Ethernet)

100 Mbps

OC-3/STM-1

155.52 Mbps

Fast Wide SCSI

160 Mbps (20 MBps)

Ultra SCSI

160 Mbps (20 MBps)

DS-4/
T4

274.176 Mbps

Wide Ultra SCSI

320 Mbps (40 MBps)

FireWire (IEEE 1394A)

400 Mbps

OC-9/STM-3

466.56 Mbps

USB 2.0

480 Mbps

OC-12/STM-4

622.08 Mbps

Wide Ultra2 SCSI

640 Mbps (80 MBps)

FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394B)

800 Mbps

ATA/100 (parallel)

800 Mbps (100 MBps)

Gigabit Ethernet

1 Gbps

OC-24/STM-8

1.244 Gbps

Ultra160 SCSI

1.280 Gbps (160 MBps)

Ultra3 SCSI

1.280 Gbps (160 MBps)

Ultra Serial ATA 1500

1.5 Gbps

OC-36/STM-12

1.866 Gbps

OC-48/STM-16

2.488 Gbps

Ultra320 SCSI

2.560 Gbps (320 MBps)

OC-96/STM-32

4.976 Gbps

OC-192/STM-64

9.953 Gbps

10G Ethernet (IEEE 802.3ae)

10 Gbps

OC-255

13.271 Gbps

OC-768

40 Gbps