Legit question

[PeachGr]

Why do we count internet speeds on mega bits per sec and not mega bytes pretty sec? I mean we download megabytes of files so maths would be easier

There other day I ve had to limit my battlenet download speed to leave some  (to scroll on browser) to bytes ps and my connection is bitsps so I have 50mbps and bnet limit is at 5.5mb(ytes)ps

[Mad153]

because bits per second is 8 x bigger and bigger looks better for ISPs

[minibois]

3 minutes ago, PeachGr said:

Why do we count internet speeds on mega bits per sec and not mega bytes pretty sec? I mean we download megabytes of files so maths would be easier

There other day I ve had to limit my battlenet download speed to leave some  (to scroll on browser) to bytes ps and my connection is bitsps so I have 50mbps and bnet limit is at 5.5mb(ytes)ps

There are a couple reasons I can think of:

1. So there is more variation. It's easier to remember 40Mb vs. 45Mb, while it's more difficult to remember 5MB vs. 5.6MB.

2. Because most people don't know about the difference between MB and Mb, if one ISP advertises in Mb, all have to. Because if ISP A advertises 40Mb/s speeds and ISP B advertises 10MB/s, people still still choose ISP A; because they don't know the difference

3. Because the way your storage and internet work are different.:

Quote

We already touched on this subject, but for storage and for expressing space on hard disk drives it was much simpler to express file sizes using bytes. Files are big and most files were text files containing text. And since text consists of characters and each character took up 8 bits of storage it was easier to express storage space in the number of bytes that the storage could hold.

 

For data transfers and computer networks, however, it makes more sense to measure the number of bits per second that are being transferred. This is because the network equipment can typically only transfer one bit at a time.

https://www.homenethowto.com/advanced-topics/speed-and-size-bits-and-bytes/

[PineyCreek]

Imagine if through the early generations of the console bit wars they had instead decided to use bytes.  A one byte console? Pah! I have the new Sega Megadrive/Genesis console.  It's a TWO byte console.

[PineyCreek]

People are ignorant, and that's why marketing people make more money than most technical people in the trenches...they have to package the BS in a consumer-friendly package (or at least pretty...tech is rarely consumer-friendly these days, reference Apple not including a charger with the iPhone 12 supposedly).

 

Also, ignorance is job security for someone else.