eli5: What is bandwidth?
In: 48
Water is always the best analogy.
The internet works on sending chunks of data called packets. These are sent in speeds of megabits per second (mbps) A megabit of packets is how much data and per second is how fast. Basically, bandwidth is how many packets and how quickly.
Using the water analogy a house might have a small diameter pipe with slow moving water through it. If you’ve ever been in a shower with low water pressure that’s the water equivalent to “low bandwidth.”
Another house might have a large diameter pipe and get a lot of water really quickly. That’s high bandwidth.
Another water comparison: Niagara Falls is high bandwidth whereas the tap in your bathroom is low.
Relating back to data when internet companies sell you internet connections they control how big (virtually, not literally) the diameter of your “pipe” is. Pay more get a bigger pipe and more bandwidth.
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