Taken from: http://www.telkomsa.net/ (BTW what happened to telkom.co.za ???)
# What's a Gig ~ In short, it is the amount of Bytes or size of a file or application on the Internet. This is approximately 300 songs, 1500 average MS Word or MS Excel documents or about 10,000 e-mails without attachments.
# What is 'Gig' as used by TelkomInternet~ In January 1999, the International Electronic Commission (IEC) introduced the prefixes kibi-(Kibibyte), mebi-, gibi-, etc., and the symbols Ki, Mi, Gi, etc. to clarify the ambiguity of binary prefixes which are often written and pronounced identically to the SI prefixes. On March 19, 2005 the IEEE promoted these binary terms in standard IEEE 1541-2002 (Prefixes for Binary Multiples), which now placed much more emphasis in the correct usage of binary terminology and prefixes. As of 2007, the IEC binary naming convention is still not extensively used.
When TelkomInternet establish their DSL line of products, binary terms such as Gibibyte and others were not common in the marketplace and ambiguity was still widespread when referring to KB, MB and GB. In order to not use unfamiliar language, TelkomInternet chose to incorporate the word 'Gig' instead of 'Gibi' in their product marketing. At the same time, the consequence of using this term and its associated ambiguity resulted in the decision to interpret a Gig as a Gibi, when actual calculations were performed. One gigabyte/GiByte is equal to 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes, which implies that in 3Gig ADSL product indirectly implies that you are receiving 3 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes which is 3 221 225 472 Bytes of bandwidth in total. If decimal (base 10) and not binary (base 2) was used to calculate bandwidth, then a 3Gig product would result in you receiving 3 x 1000 x 1000 x 1000 Bytes, which totals 3 000 000 000 Bytes, which is 7% less than 3 221 225 472 Bytes. TelkomInternet therefore calculates and bill bandwidth usage in such a manor, that should the ambiguity be disputed, it would stand to the benefit of you our subscriber. In theory, we are giving you 7% more value, than the IEEE standard stipulates.
In view of the IEEE standard which is becoming more familiar to the public, in conjunction with other top performing companies, TelkomInternet has an ongoing initiative to align with the standard. Hence forward we will be changing our calculation and reporting interfaces to more accurately reflect the IEEE standard's interpretation and use of binary terminology.
# What's a Gig ~ In short, it is the amount of Bytes or size of a file or application on the Internet. This is approximately 300 songs, 1500 average MS Word or MS Excel documents or about 10,000 e-mails without attachments.
# What is 'Gig' as used by TelkomInternet~ In January 1999, the International Electronic Commission (IEC) introduced the prefixes kibi-(Kibibyte), mebi-, gibi-, etc., and the symbols Ki, Mi, Gi, etc. to clarify the ambiguity of binary prefixes which are often written and pronounced identically to the SI prefixes. On March 19, 2005 the IEEE promoted these binary terms in standard IEEE 1541-2002 (Prefixes for Binary Multiples), which now placed much more emphasis in the correct usage of binary terminology and prefixes. As of 2007, the IEC binary naming convention is still not extensively used.
When TelkomInternet establish their DSL line of products, binary terms such as Gibibyte and others were not common in the marketplace and ambiguity was still widespread when referring to KB, MB and GB. In order to not use unfamiliar language, TelkomInternet chose to incorporate the word 'Gig' instead of 'Gibi' in their product marketing. At the same time, the consequence of using this term and its associated ambiguity resulted in the decision to interpret a Gig as a Gibi, when actual calculations were performed. One gigabyte/GiByte is equal to 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes, which implies that in 3Gig ADSL product indirectly implies that you are receiving 3 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes which is 3 221 225 472 Bytes of bandwidth in total. If decimal (base 10) and not binary (base 2) was used to calculate bandwidth, then a 3Gig product would result in you receiving 3 x 1000 x 1000 x 1000 Bytes, which totals 3 000 000 000 Bytes, which is 7% less than 3 221 225 472 Bytes. TelkomInternet therefore calculates and bill bandwidth usage in such a manor, that should the ambiguity be disputed, it would stand to the benefit of you our subscriber. In theory, we are giving you 7% more value, than the IEEE standard stipulates.
In view of the IEEE standard which is becoming more familiar to the public, in conjunction with other top performing companies, TelkomInternet has an ongoing initiative to align with the standard. Hence forward we will be changing our calculation and reporting interfaces to more accurately reflect the IEEE standard's interpretation and use of binary terminology.
