By Vangie Beal
Mbps, also seen as mb/s, is an abbreviation for megabits per second. If you capitalize the b and make the abbreviation MBps (or MB/s), it stands for megabytes per second. Both of these terms are used as a measure of data transfer rate.
MBps vs. Mbps
Comparing Mbps and MBps comes down to comparing megabits and megabytes. A megabit is the smaller of the two and is made up of one million bits. A megabyte is made up of eight megabits.
Mbps is a measurement most often seen when looking at the offerings of an internet provider.
Essentially, Mbps is used as a way to measure internet speed a higher Mbps means that larger amounts of data can be transferred faster. Many people have compared Mbps to a hose or pipe. The larger the Mbps pipe, the larger the amount of data that is able to flow through it.
While Mbps is used to denote internet upload and download speeds, MBps is used more to describe the amount of data transferred or the file size. When deciding what internet speed to purchase, it is important to consider a few things:
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What will you be using the internet for? This is important to consider because streaming HD videos and gaming will require a lot more Mbps than just checking your email and surfing the web.
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How many people or devices will be using your internet connection? If there will be multiple devices connected to your internet connection at one time, you will need to increase the Mbps to maintain a high-speed connection.
