Know the difference between bits and bytes.
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Its easy to lose yourself in the morass of technical terminologies when shopping for internet providers. For instance, debates over whether you should prioritize internet speed vs. bandwidth or whether you need a Wi-Fi 7 router can easily derail your search if you don't know what to look for. A prevalent and consequential mix up is between Megabits per second (Mbps) and Megabytes per second (MB/s). Although both are measurements of data transfers, confusing them can have major implications.
To understand the two, you first have to grapple with the difference between bits and bytes. Bits are the basic unit of information for computing and measure the binary 1s and 0s of that make up a string of code. Bits per second are commonly used to measure the speed of data transfers, such as internet streaming speeds or download speeds. Bytes, on the other hand, are groups of eight bits – the typical amount to produce a single letter, symbol or number. These metrics are used to describe file sizes or storage space. For instance, you might describe the size of a movie file in terms of bytes. When using bytes per second, you are typically gauging how fast these files can be transferred. Considering both units are too small to meaningfully describe contemporary computing power, the prefix "mega" is added to indicate that each measure one million units. The per-second measures of Mbps and MB/s refer to how quickly a million bits and bytes can move, respectively.
What is each term used for?
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Understanding megabit per second rates is critical to gauging the quality of your home internet speed. Typically, download speeds severely outpace upload speeds. The FCC, for instance, lists 100 Mbps as the threshold for broadband internet speed, while the requirement for uploading information is merely 20 Mbps. According to a report by internet speed test company Ookla, the median download and upload speeds for American households in August 2026 was 307 Mbps and 63 Mbps, respectively. These average speeds have skyrocketed over the past decade. In 2015, for instance, the FCC's benchmarks for highspeed internet were four times slower than their current standards. If your internet connection continues to perform middlingly, you can potentially boost your Mbps through a few simple fixes.
Megabytes per second, on the other hand, is typically used to describe the speed of a large data transfer to and from a storage device. For instance, you may use the measure to describe how fast a file can be uploaded to the cloud, or how quickly it can be moved from a hard disk. Using megabytes per second, you can easily quantify how long it will take you to download a video file or transfer a document.
Of course, you may see the two metrics used interchangeably. Luckily, comparing the two metrics is simple: just divide your megabits by eight. For instance, if your internet says that it can upload a file at 100 Mbps, that equates to 12.5 MBps. Conversely, to convert MBps to Mbps simply multiply by 8.