Some help with M / m & K/k please

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dominic

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Please correct the below from the Department of Communications as necessary:

Broadband is generally defined as a high-speed, high capacity
transmission medium that can carry signals from multiple independent
network carriers. There is no general consensus on the precise speed at
which a network connection is deemed to be broadband service both at
local and at international level. For example, even within the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the different sectors in
alignment with their functions, define broadband differently. The
standardisation sector defines broadband as a transmission capacity that
is faster than primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network at 1, 5
Megabits (Mbps) to 2 per second Mbps whilst the Development Sector
defines it to be 256 Kilobits per second (Kbps). Comparative research has
demonstrated that broadband speeds in different countries vary between
128 kbps and 10 mbps.

....
 
dominic said:
Please correct the below from the Department of Communications as necessary:

Broadband is generally defined as a high-speed, high capacity
transmission medium that can carry signals from multiple independent
network carriers. There is no general consensus on the precise speed at
which a network connection is deemed to be broadband service both at
local and at international level. For example, even within the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the different sectors in
alignment with their functions, define broadband differently. The
standardisation sector defines broadband as a transmission capacity that
is faster than primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network at 1, 5 (1.5?)
megabits per second (Mbps) to 2 megabits per second (Mbps) whilst the Development Sector
defines it to be 256 kilobits per second (kbps). Comparative research has
demonstrated that broadband speeds in different countries vary between
128 kbps and 10 Mbps.

....
Click to expand...
FTFY.

BTW, broadband means mutliple channels on a single transmission medium (or cable), it is the opposite of baseband.
It doesn't really have anything to do with the speed.
The term broadband refers to the wide bandwidth characteristics of a transmission medium and its ability to transport multiple signals and traffic types simultaneously. The medium can be coax, optical fiber, twisted pair or wireless. In contrast, baseband describes a communication system in which information is transported across a single channel.[1]
Click to expand...

[1] Glen Carty. Broadband Networking. McGraw Hill Osborne. p. 4. ISBN 007219510X.
 
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Some say Kbps others kbps. Small k is scientific notation for 1000. Capital K is IT notation for 1024.

I use Kbps.

Imo.
 
biometrics said:
Some say Kbps others kbps. Small k is scientific notation for 1000. Capital K is IT notation for 1024.

I use Kbps.

Imo.
Click to expand...
You are wrong. Transmission speeds are always in bits, kilobits (1000), megabits (1000^2), gigabits (1000^3), etc.
It's only when those bits are grouped into bytes and stored in memory chips do we use KB (1024), MB (1024^2), GB (1024^3), etc. where the capital B signifies bytes (8 bits).
 
ginggs said:
You are wrong. Transmission speeds are always in bits, kilobits (1000), megabits (1000^2), gigabits (1000^3), etc.
It's only when those bits are grouped into bytes and stored in memory chips do we use KB (1024), MB (1024^2), GB (1024^3), etc. where the capital B signifies bytes (8 bits).
Click to expand...

Then why are you using Mbps?
 
biometrics said:
Lots of confusion on this topic it seems, e.g.
Click to expand...
No confusion if you consult the standard:

kilo (K) (as a prefix to units of semiconductor storage capacity)

A multiplier equal to 1024 (2^10).

NOTE 1 Contrast with the SI prefix kilo (k) equal to 10^3, as in a 1‑kb/s data transfer rate, which is equal to 1000 bits per second.

NOTE 2 See note 2 to "mega (M)".

References
JESD21-C#, 1/97
JESD100-B, 12/99
Click to expand...
http://www.jedec.org/standards-docu...k-prefix-units-semiconductor-storage-capacity
 
abzo said:
Technically, a KiB = 1024 bytes.
Click to expand...
In an attempt to end the confusion, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) came up with KiB (or kibibyte) for 1024 bytes.

I don't think it worked.
 
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ginggs said:
FTFY.

BTW, broadband means mutliple channels on a single transmission medium (or cable), it is the opposite of baseband.
It doesn't really have anything to do with the speed.


[1] Glen Carty. Broadband Networking. McGraw Hill Osborne. p. 4. ISBN 007219510X.
Click to expand...

While broadband, as opposed to baseband, described the underlying technology, the use of Broadband, as we know it today, became popular a few years ago for describing a service that could carry a *broad* range of services and speed entered the equation. I kid you not.
 
liked this thread a lot more when it only had one response :)
thanks y'all. will try and avoid the temptation to explain this to the DoC
 
jannievanzyl said:
While broadband, as opposed to baseband, described the underlying technology, the use of Broadband, as we know it today, became popular a few years ago for describing a service that could carry a *broad* range of services and speed entered the equation. I kid you not.
Click to expand...
So, instead of looking for the definition of broadband, our ministers should be looking for the minimum network connection speed that can supply an acceptable range of "broadband services".

But first, we need to decide on an acceptable range of "broadband services". Is it just text and static images? Should it include streaming audio? Should it include streaming video? Unfortunately, this is a rapidly moving target. What was acceptable two years ago won't be acceptable today, and that won't be acceptable in two years' time.
 
ginggs said:
So, instead of looking for the definition of broadband, our ministers should be looking for the minimum network connection speed that can supply an acceptable range of "broadband services".

But first, we need to decide on an acceptable range of "broadband services". Is it just text and static images? Should it include streaming audio? Should it include streaming video? Unfortunately, this is a rapidly moving target. What was acceptable two years ago won't be acceptable today, and that won't be acceptable in two years' time.
Click to expand...

the standard text seems to be "always-on multi-media capable"
and it seems like we will now set a minimum speed and review it periodically (in theory anyway) - hopefully it won't be another 30% pass mark story
 
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