How Bandwidth Translates Into Speed
Maybe you have gone to a network Web news page like abcnews.com*. You have probably used an optical disk with a computer. This activity lets you compare connection speeds to see how much difference a fast connection can make when you are trying to download something from the Internet.

For reference, try three different file sizes. Enter 100K, the approximate size of a typical news Web page. Then try 5MB, the size of a video clip. Finally, try 640MB, the size of an optical disk. (See how to use the download calculator.)

You probably do not download an optical disk every day. That's the equivalent of 150,000 printed pages. But the faster your connection, the better the performance you will experience for doing things like viewing movie clips or downloading computer games.


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