Bandwidth

Meaning

Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data a connection can carry in a given time, and in everyday talk it is used loosely to mean the plan's capacity. It is shared among every person and device in the home, so a plan that suits one user can feel crowded when several people stream and make video calls together. Bandwidth is not the same as latency, which describes delay, so a large capacity does not by itself remove lag. Match capacity to your busiest hour of use. See also: Mbps, Latency, and the guide What Mbps Means: Download Speed, Upload Speed and Latency.