eli5: What is bandwidth?
In: 48
It is how wide the band is :-).
In radio it is how wide of a frequency range you have. It can be very narrow and it can be very wide. This is closely regulated by the FCC and you need to have a license to operate in certain bands.
In data it is how many bits can I transfer, the more the better. In computing we are a little less literal about bandwidth, in radio and wifi we are literally talking about frequency bands.
These ideas combine in interesting way. Lets say I have a fiber optic connection between two sites using the typical laser RF. I can get a maximum *bandwidth* in the 1310 or 850 nanometer fiber optic cable. But, lets say I literally divide up the light frequencies in the dense waves (this means something but it isn’t important here) and I send on wave 1 and receive on wave 2. I have literally doubled my bandwidth because I am now working on two different bands.
Mobile carriers want more *bandwidth* (see the controversy about ILS landing radios) because each mobile must have a specific band to get phone calls on, otherwise more than one cell phone will ring when you call one person! You can use filter circuits all you want but when it comes right down to it if you want more mobile devices you need more bands to put the phones on.
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