The first Ethernet had a capacity of about 2 megabits (millions of bits) per second (mbps), and today 10- and 100-mbps Ethernet is common, with gigabit-per-second (billions of bits per second; gbps) Ethernet also in use.
And we have set an ambition that ultrafast [100+ Mbps] broadband should be available to nearly all UK premises as soon as practicable".
Turnbull insists – against obvious local scepticism – that the new satellites will make a big difference, 25 megabits per second download speeds and five Mbps up.
As consumers increasingly have access to 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps connections, providers of all kinds may find reasons to up the data rates they serve.
Often, it is impossible to tell from the alacrity with which web pages load up alone whether the connection is running at 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps.
The mobile-phone companies are about to be overwhelmed by a tsunami called WiMAX, a souped-up successor of Wi-Fi with a range of 30 miles or more instead of 100 yards or less.Whereas 3G cellular networks might get 3 mbps and Wi-Fi around 30 mbps, mobile WiMAX is a 4G technology promising speeds of up to 100 mbps.
Rates of 4 Mbps or faster will be achieved in 2014, when Mars is a mere 100m kilometres (60m miles) from Earth, compared with around 240m kilometres now.
When our usage monitor was working, we usually passed only 100 GB.For now households have little reason to tap 100 Mbps for hours on end, even if every member of a large family were streaming or downloading high-definition video simultaneously.
They instantly jumped to the full 15 Mbps.
But Oliver Johnson of Point Topic, a consultancy, thinks 100-500 Mbps a safer bet.Though most homes would struggle to make full use of gigabit bandwidth, faster connections do seem to mean more internet use.
At the typical speed offered to most customers three to five years ago, consuming 250 GB would mean going full throttle at 5 Mbps for over 100 hours during a month.
