eli5: What is bandwidth?
In: 48
Bandwidth nowadays tends to refer to the aggregation of multiple radio frequencies into a single usable communications channel.
Your typical home ‘fibre’ internet connection will use approximately 4096 different radio frequencies combined to give your total speed.
Most of these frequencies are allocated to your download speed and just a handful of them are allocated to your upload speed.
Each one of those frequencies is like a miniature telephone call between your modem and the wholesalers modem. They are both constantly checking the volume and clarity of each call and adjusting each one up and down as necessary.
Your internet connection, in many cases, is simply radio frequency over copper.
In the UK, the frequency for Radio 4 coincides with one of the 4096 calls your modem is managing. Instead of allowing your modem to constantly battle with that frequency, it is generally mapped out of your internet profile so that particular call is never made.
You sacrifice a tiny amount of ‘bandwidth’ and thus overall throughput/speed as a result.
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