The concept of bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be sent and received in a communication.
Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be sent and received within a communication . This bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second or in multiples of this unit.
The concept became popular in recent decades with the widespread use of the Internet . That is why today it is frequently used in computing .
What is bandwidth
Bandwidth is generally understood as a range for transferring data . The notion is usually used with reference to the data transfer rate achieved in a communication channel.
In the same way, we cannot ignore that the notion of network bandwidth or digital bandwidth is also often referred to.
The bandwidth on an Internet connection can be linked to its speed. Suppose a company offers a bandwidth of 100 Mbit/s . This means that your network allows you to transfer (send/receive) up to 100 Mbit per second. In other words, in one second, it is possible to achieve 100 Mbit transfer. As you can see, the higher the bandwidth, the more data per second it will be possible to transfer and, therefore, the connection will have a higher speed .
Bandwidth varies according to technology.
Other information of interest
In addition to everything indicated, we must take into account another important series of data about what bandwidth is and means:
- A program can put a “brake” on the bandwidth it consumes. This means that it will limit the megabits per second that it will transmit. Thus, the fact that this program does not use the total available width means that it does not affect other applications and that everyone can make use of the existing range.
- Depending on the type of connection you have, the bandwidth is greater or less. In this case, it can be established, for example, that with a telephone modem it was 56 kbits / second while with Ethernet 10 Mbits / second can be reached.
- When contracting a bandwidth service, it is common that the contracted “dimensions” are not the real ones. Therefore, a good alternative to check if that width is the one that has been contracted is to use different specific websites that are responsible for measuring it.
Bandwidth in different areas
The idea of bandwidth also appears in hosting or web hosting services. Companies typically allow a certain amount of data transferred to or from a website on a monthly basis. This measurement is the bandwidth.
If we focus on analog signals (that is, non-digital), the length that exists between the frequencies where the highest power of the signal is concentrated is called bandwidth.