Kilobits vs. Kilobytes

When looking at T1/DSL/ISDN/Dial up speeds, be aware that the speeds are listed in Kilobits per second (Kbps) and not Kilobytes per second (KB/s). This is important to understand the speed you will actually receive when your T1/DSL/ISDN/Dial up circuit is up and running and you begin downloading or uploading information over the Internet or your network. Below is a comparison table of the differences between a Kilobit and a Kilobyte.

Kilobits (Kb) Kilobytes Download or Upload Time*
56 Kbps (Dial up Speed) 7 KB/s 2 minutes 30 seconds
112 Kbps (ISDN Speed) 14 KB/s 1 minute 10 seconds
144 Kbps 18 KB/s 1 minute
384 Kbps 48 KB/s 21 seconds
768 Kbps 96 KB/s 11 seconds
1,100 Kbps (1.1Mbps) 138 KB/s 7.5 seconds
1,500 Kbps (1.5Mbps T1 Speed) 187.5 KB/s 5 seconds

*Based on transferring a 1 MB file over a network with no congestion. Times are approximate.

Translations:
1 Kilobyte (KB) = 8 Kilobits (Kb)
1 Megabyte (MB) = 1024 Kilobytes