Maximum Dedicated Bandwidths*
How fast is fast? This chart puts into perspective line speeds used in Internet backbones, LANs, and WANs.
| 13.21 Gbps | OC-255 |
| 10 Gbps | OC-192 |
| 4.976 Gbps | OC-96 |
| 2.488 Gbps | OC-48, STS-48 |
| 1.866 Gbps | OC-36 |
| 1.244 Gbps | OC-24 |
| 933.12 Mbps | OC-18 |
| 622.08 Mbps | OC-12, STS-12 |
| 466.56 Mbps | OC-9 |
| 155.52 Mbps | OC-3, STS-3 |
| 100 Mbps | CDDI, FDDI, Fast Ethernet, Category 5 cable |
| 51.84 Mbps | OC-1, STS-1 |
| 44.736 Mbps | T-3, DS-3 North America |
| 34.368 Mbps | E-3 Europe |
| 20 Mbps | Category 4 cable |
| 16 Mbps | Token Ring LANs |
| 10Mbps | Thin Ethernet, category 3 cable, cable modem |
| 8.448 Mbps | E-2 Europe |
| 6.312 Mbps | T-2, DS-2 North America |
| 6.144 Mbps | Standard ADSL downstream |
| 3.152 Mbps | DS-1c |
| 2.048 Mbps | E-1, DS-1 Europe |
| 1.544 Mbps | ADSL, T-1, DS-1 North America |
| 128 Kbps | ISDN |
| 64 Kbps | DS-0, pulse code modulation |
| 56 Kbps | 56flex, U.S. Robotics x2 modems, |
| 33.6 Kbps | 56flex, x2 modem communications rate |
| 28.8 Kbps | V.34, Rockwell V.Fast Class modems |
| 20 Kbps | Level 1 cable, minimum cable data speed |
| 14.4 Kbps | V.32bis modem, V.17 fax |
| 9600 bps | modem speed circa early 1990s |
| 2400 bps | modem speed circa 1980s |
Units of Measurement
bit= smallest unit of digital information, i.e. ones & zerosbyte= a set of 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
*Editor's note: individual components in the bandwidth measurement chart have not been separated by Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) protocol layer or media.
