Maximum Dedicated Bandwidths

How fast is fast when your data is moving? This chart puts into perspective line speeds used in Internet backbones, LANs, WLANs, MANs, and WANs. There are factors that may prevent optimum speeds from happening, however these are realistic and attainable speeds. In the case of wireless specifications, attaining the specification speed is very unusual. More often than not, the maximum throughput is from 10% to 60% of the specification; a norm is about 35%.

13.271 Gbps	OC-255
10 Gbps	OC-192
4.976 Gbps	OC-96
2.488 Gbps	OC-48, STS-48
2.325 Gbps	SCI-Net
1.866 Gbps	OC-36
1.244 Gbps	OC-24
1 Gbps	UltraFast Ethernet
933.12 Mbps	OC-18
622.08 Mbps	OC-12, STS-12, STM-4
565.148 Mbps	E5
466.56 Mbps	OC-9
274 Mbps	E4, T4
155.52 Mbps	OC-3, STS-3
108 Mbps	802.11, 802.11g extenstions WI-FI
100 Mbps	CDDI, FDDI, Fast Ethernet, Category 5 Cable
54 Mbps	802.11, 802.11a, 802.11g WI-FI
53 Mbps	HSSI cable
51.84 Mbps	OC-1, STS-1
44.736 Mbps	T3, DS3 North America
34.368 Mbps	E3, DS3 Europe
20 Mbps	Category 4 cable
16 Mbps	Fast Token Ring LANs
11 Mbps	802.11, 802.11b WI-FI
10Mbps	Thin Ethernet, Category 3 Cable, cable modem
8.448 Mbps	E2 Europe
6.312 Mbps	T2, DS2 North America
6.144 Mbps	Highest speed ADSL downstream (2 pair)
4 Mbps	Token Ring networks
3.152 Mbps	T1c, DS1c
2.048 Mbps	E1, DS1 Europe
2 Mbps	802.11, Original 802.11 WI-FI
up to 2 Mbps	UMTS wireless
1.544 Mbps	ADSL, T1, DS1 North America
1 Mbps	802.11, Original 802.11 WI-FI
896 Kbps	High speed ADSL downstream
512 Kbps	Fast ADSL downstream
384 Kbps	Standard ADSL downstream
384 Kbps	Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) wireless
256 Kbps	Fast ADSL upstream
256 Kbps	Average ADSL downstream
230.4 Kbps	AppleTalk networks
128 Kbps	Standard ADSL upstream
128 Kbps	ISDN
56 Kbps to 114 Kbps	GPRS wireless
64 Kbps	ISDN (std)
64 Kbps	DS0, pulse code modulation
up to 56 Kbps	HSCSD wireless
56 Kbps	K56FLEX, U.S. Robotics X2 modems, V.90
33.6 Kbps	K56FLEX, X2 modem communications rate
28.8 Kbps	V.34, Rockwell V.Fast Class modems
20 Kbps	Level 1 cable, minimum cable data speed
19.2 Kbps	V.32ter modem,
14.4 Kbps	V.32bis modem, V.17 Fax
9,600 to 14,400 Kbps	GSM wireless telephone
9600 bps	modem speed of the early 1990s
4800 bps	modem speed of the late 1980s
2400 bps	modem speed of the mid 1980s
1200 bps	modem speed of the early 1980s
300 bps	modem speed of the 1970s and earlier
60 bps	early teletype devices
0 bps	smoke signals

Units of Measurement

bit = smallest unit of digital information, i.e. ones & zeros
byte = a set of 8 bits
bps = bits per second
Kbps = kilobits per second =1000 bits per second
Mbps = Million bits per second =1,000,000 bits per second
Gbps = Gigabits per second = 1,000,000,000 (one billion) bits per second
Tbps = Terabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) bits per second
Pbps = Petabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 50th power) bits per second
Ebps = Exabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 60th power) bits per second
Zbps = Zettabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 70th power) bits per second
Ybps = Yottabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (2 to the 80th power) bits per second

Note: The individual components in the bandwidth measurement chart have not been separated by Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) protocol layer or media. Certainly the actual throughput will vary with traffic, sometimes distance, quality of connections and noise factors.

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