Date   : Thu, 09 Feb 2006 10:53:35 +0000 (GMT)
From   : Tim Fardell <tim.fardell@...>
Subject: Re: Grammar

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006, Austin Pass wrote:

> The worst one with respect to this phenomenon is people (most often supposed
> "ICT authorities") who don't understand the difference between a bit and a
> byte, usually in the context of megabits and megabytes, usually with
> reference to bandwidth indicators.
> 
> Every time I divide their x megabit download speeds by eight to calculate
> the *real* time for a y MB download they become utterly confused.  This
> really ought to be the computing equivalent of "learning your abc", right?

Agreed. Problem is that the quoted "bits per second" for most services
refers to actual bits on the wire, including all protocol overheads,
rather than bits of "useful data". I believe ADSL IP services in the UK
run over ATM, which introduces a 10 to 20 percent (dependent on IP packet
size) overhead before you start. So your 1Mbps service actually gives you 
more like 850Mbps of IP throughput.