What is Internet connection speed?

Internet connection speed refers to the data transfer rate from the Internet to your computer. Basically that means the amount of time it takes your computer to download a given amount of data. Internet connection speeds are usually measured in Kbps (kilobits per second, or thousands of bits per second) or KBps (kilobytes per second). Nowadays with the technological improvements in data transfer speeds, Internet connection speeds can also be measured in Mbps (megabits per second, or millions of bits per second) or MBps (megabytes per second). For example, if you had a 28.8K (28,800 bps) modem, then it would take at least 4 - 5 minutes to download a 1MB file. If you had digital subscriber line (DSL), the same 1MB file would take approximately 10 - 20 seconds.