Mbps (Megabits per second)
What is Mbps?
Mbps means ‘megabits per second’. It’s a measurement which relates to your home broadband bandwidth and the rate at which data is transferred to or from your devices. Your download speeds and upload speeds are measured in Mbps.
When you download a song or stream a film, you’re downloading this content from the internet. Your download speed will depend on your bandwidth.
It’s the same with the opposite, such as uploading video to YouTube or making video calls, which depend on your upload speed. Your device is using your bandwidth to relay data to another server online.
As a rule, the higher the Mbps of your broadband download and upload speed, the easier and faster it will be to download films and songs, as well as upload files and make video calls.
Here are some example bandwidth download speeds for different online activities for one person:
Social Media and browsing: 1 to 3Mbps
Video calls and video conferences, such as Zoom and Skype: 2 to 4Mbps
Online HD video streaming, such as Netflix: 3 to 5Mbps
Streaming videos in HD: 5 to 7Mbps