Every network has its capacity or bandwidth. This constant defines amount of data that can be transmitted in one second. Sometimes it is called bandwidth (although there are different uses of term bandwidth in networking). The data throughput is measured in amount of bits transmitted per one second. The prefixes define amount of zeros after the number – kilobits for 1000 bits, megabits for 1000000 bits and so on. Short abbreviations for throughput are bps/Kbps/Mbps/Gbps/Tbps. Like for example 1 PON port ofEPON OLT bandwidth is 1 Gigabit, and it get’s shared over all ONU’s connected to this particular PON port.
Applications that include high definition streaming, video/audio conferencing are requiring high throughput, while messaging and emails do not need much of it.
Residential broadband Internet would have throughput of 1 to 10 Mbps, while fast LAN could transport up to 10 Gbps of data.
Main use of term bandwidth is a measure between lowest and highest available frequencies that can transmit data through the medium. This value is measured in Hz. For example, radio signal available bandwidth is 10 MHz, between 870 and 880 MHz.
