how do i figure out theoretical max bandwidth

neocontrol · 07-31-2007, 12:10 PM

Hi,

I'm just messing around with some numbers, and I was wondering what is my max theoretical bandwidth, if I pushed it for a straight month.

So lets say I have a 1Mb/s connection. What is the formula to figure this out?

My guess is something like this: 1Mb/s x 60 minutes x 24 hours x 30 days. DOesn't seem right.

I understand that it's pretty much impossible to be truly maxed out, as hardware and loss, and such make it impossible. I just want to figure out how much I COULD possibly push through a connection.

pixellany · 07-31-2007, 12:26 PM

1Mb/s = 1 Megabit/second = 1E6 bits/sec

1E6 bits/sec * 60 secs/min * 60 mins/hr * 24 hrs/day * 30 days/mo = 2.59E12 bits/month
(2.59 terabits/month)
This of course assumes that the AVERAGE rate over the month is 1Mbit/sec.

Now what???

b0uncer · 07-31-2007, 12:36 PM

It's never that. The average speed, even, is probably closer to 3/4 of the maximum speed (or less) than 4/4. Add downtimes, "traffic jams" and so on, and you'll be halving the value.

There is no point in calculating that...

neocontrol · 07-31-2007, 12:40 PM

I understand that that. I was just curious what an IDEAL situation could yield.

Poetics · 07-31-2007, 02:49 PM

TCP/IP traffic generally uses up to 13% overhead, so you might want to include that in your calculations.