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Internet Speed Reality

Estimate realistic download and upload times, factoring in real-world network overhead.

ISPs advertise in Mbps (Megabits), but file sizes are in MB (Megabytes).

Estimate transfer times

Find out how long that massive video game or project file will actually take to download.

Mbps vs MBps: The Grand Illusion

When internet service providers advertise "100 Mbps" speeds, they are using Megabits, not Megabytes. Since there are 8 bits in a byte, your actual max theoretical download speed is 12.5 Megabytes per second. Furthermore, due to packet headers and TCP/IP overhead, you realistically only see about 90% of that speed. This calculator helps bridge the gap between marketing numbers and reality.