What is Bandwidth

Definition: – Learn exactly what is bandwidth acronym and used in information technology. Since the invention of the internet, it had shape and influence the world a great deal. Before, advertisements on products and/or services sold are done through televisions, radios, newspapers, and magazines. With the popularization of the internet, the businesses who used to post advertisements on radios and TVs are now creating their own website to get their products and/or services across its consumers or clients. With just a few keywords written on the search engine, the results would immediately pop out in seconds and you can choose among the sites shown on the results page which you want to browse.

How is it possible

There are over millions of computers worldwide that are attached to the internet using cables. These cables are provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) companies. These companies have a high-speed connection to the internet and it does not come in cheap. To ensure that they manage to pay this connection, they rent out tiny portions of that high-speed connection to consumers such as yourself. Hence, instead of paying a huge amount for an internet connection you would only pay a minimal amount as it is being divided among all the consumers who are also renting these portions.

This internet connection is the one responsible who would show the results of whatever it is that you want to browse the web.

Connection Speed

The internet speed is determined by the bandwidth of the connection that is between ISP and your machine. You might probably wonder why it is taking so long to download a website or files into your computer. This is because the bandwidth is responsible for it. They join the wire connection from your ISP provider to your modem then to your computer. Hence, whenever you open a webpage or download a file, the information that you want to collect travels quickly to your ISP, then modem, then your computer.

Regardless of your bandwidth, the actual speed in which the information travels through the wire stays the same that is the speed light of 670,000,000 MPH.

How does bandwidth works 

If you are wondering why if information travels at such a high-speed, it would still take time for it to appear on your screen? That is where your bandwidth comes in. Bandwidth comes in different types. For example, a construction company that is working on its drainage pipe. To make the pipe sturdy, they need to prepare the site prior to the construction. Therefore, if there is water that surrounds the area, they need to drain it. If they use a smaller pipe to drain the water, it would take them some time before it is completed. However, if they use a bigger pipe, draining the water would finish in a matter of minutes.

This same analogy actually applies with the bandwidth. If you are using dial-up internet connection, they use a standard telephone line to connect to the internet service provider. This telephone line has a very narrow bandwidth that is about 50 kbps only. As a result, download of information takes a long time.

If you are using a broadband internet connection, it has a bigger bandwidth that is from 128 kbps to 2,000 kbps. Hence, making the download of information a lot faster.