This is just an example of a question, but many people have a wrong understanding of these concepts, and that is why they believe that you will get a download speed of 1 MB per second if your download speed is 1 Mbps. But, that isn’t so, and that is why we would like to clarify this concept in this article so that you can actually understand the Internet speed and better find out what to expect as you start to download a large file.
One of the basics of computer science is the binary number system, In this system, there are only 0s and 1s, and one such number is 1 bit. This is the smallest unit for data measurement. 1 byte is made up of 8 bits. If you have understood the last two sentences, you have already gotten a hold of the concept and the relationship between bytes and bits.
How much time will it take to download a file of 1 MB with a connection speed of 1 Mbps?
1 byte is made up of eight bits, which is a combination of 8 numbers (either 0 or 1). Let us now look at the math behind this.
- You have a download speed of 1 Mbps (1 Megabit per second).
- You want to download a file with a size of 1 MB.
To find out how much time this will take, you can take your download speed of 1 Mbps and divide it by 8. This will give you information about how many MB you will download per second. You can then take the size of the file and divide it by the download speed.
- 1 Mbps / 8 (bit) = 0.125 MB per second
- 1 MB (file size) / 0.125 MB per second = 8 seconds
In other words, it should take 8 seconds to download a file with the size of 1 MB with a connection speed of 1 Mbps.
What about a 10GB file with a connection speed of 10 Mbps?
We can make it a little bit more complicated. If we have a connection of 10 Mbps and want to download a file with a size of 10GB, how much time will it take?
- 10 Mbps / 8 = 1.25 MB per second
- 10 GB (10,000MB) / 1.25 = 8000 seconds (133 minutes)
In other words, it should take approximately 133 minutes to download a 10 GB file if your connection speed is 10 Mbps.
This is the basic concept and math worth knowing as you want to find the relationship between your download speed and expected download times for larger files.
I hope this article has helped you. If you have further comments or questions, please use the comment field!
