Difference between Kbps and Mbps

Key Difference: Kbps is an acronym for kilo bits per second, whereas Mbps is an acronym for mega bits per second. One Kbps defines the rate of data transfer that is equivalent to a thousand bits transferred per second. On the other hand, one Mbps defines the rate of data transfer that is equivalent to a million bits or a thousand kilo bits transferred per second.

Kbps and Mbps define measurement units for the speed engaged in data transfers. Speed is calculated in terms of bits per second. A bit is the smallest unit of data in a computer and it is implemented with the current electronic technology. Bit is actually a short term to refer to a binary digit. It can either hold 0 or 1. One represents an on state and zero represents an off state. Thus, the rate of data transfer defines the speed in which data in the form of bits gets transferred from one device to the other.

Kbps stands for kilo bits per second. It is equivalent to 1000 bits transferred per second.

Mbps stands for megabits per second. It is equivalent to a million bits or a 1000 kilo bits transferred per second.

If the speed of data transfer is stated as 80 Kbps using a dial up modem, then it means that 80,000 bits per second can be received by a computer. Similarly, if the speed is stated as 80 Mbps then it means that (80*1000, 000) bits per second can be received by a computer.

Examples:-

“Old V.90 modems supported data rates up to 56 Kbps

"10Base-T ethernet operates at 10 Mbps and uses baseband transmission methods."

Many people consider them as kilo bytes per second and mega bytes per second. However, a kilo bit is different from a kilo byte and mega bit is also different from mega byte. One can differentiate on the basis of capitalization of b in acronyms of megabytes per second and kilobytes per second (MBps and KBps). Bytes per second are used in downloading, to specify the size of a file.

Internet speed is judged with the help of these rates. In the starting, speed of data transfer was slow and thus, bits per second were used to denote the speed. Later as the speeds increased, the numbers also changed accordingly. The bits got the consideration under kilobits and kilobits to megabits. The internet plans are described in the terms of maximum connection speed expressed in Kbps or Mbps. Data transfer rate is also known as bandwidth. Data transmission that is measured in bits per second (bps) is also known as baud rate or bit rate.

Image Courtesy: techtalkafrica.com, mon-ip.awardspace.com

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