Mbps (Megabits Per Second)

What It Means

Megabits per second (Mbps) is the standard unit for measuring data transfer rate on internet connections and is used by every U.S. ISP, the FCC Broadband Data Collection, the FCC Broadband Nutrition Label, and speed test services including Ookla, M-Lab NDT, and Netflix Fast.com. One megabit equals 1,000,000 bits (under SI decimal convention) or 1,048,576 bits (under binary convention, rarely used for network rates). A common source of consumer confusion is the distinction between megabits (Mb) and megabytes (MB), since a byte contains 8 bits, a 100 Mbps connection transfers at most 12.5 MB per second of actual file data, ignoring protocol overhead. This means a 1 GB game download at 100 Mbps takes roughly 80 seconds, not 10. Consumer ISP speed tiers in the U.S. typically begin at 50 Mbps (entry-level cable or DSL), step through 100, 200, 300, 500, 1,000 Mbps (gigabit, the new standard premium tier), 2,000 Mbps, and top out at 5,000 Mbps (5 Gbps fiber from AT&T, Google Fiber, Frontier, and Ziply) or 10,000 Mbps (10 Gbps plans available in select metros from Ziply, Sonic, and Optimum). Gigabits per second (Gbps) is the unit used for plans of 1,000 Mbps or more. The FCC broadband benchmark of 100/20 Mbps is the threshold below which a location qualifies for BEAD and other federal subsidies.

Frequently Asked Questions