Divide by a thousand
Network speeds use the SI decimal scale, so a gigabit per second is exactly 1,000 megabits per second. To go up, divide by 1,000; to go down, multiply. This is not the binary 1,024 factor — that belongs to storage sizes (gibibits), and broadband never uses it.
Common speeds
| Mbps | Gbps |
|---|---|
| 100 Mbps | 0.1 Gbps |
| 500 Mbps | 0.5 Gbps |
| 1,000 Mbps | 1 Gbps |
| 2,500 Mbps | 2.5 Gbps |
| 10,000 Mbps | 10 Gbps |
Gigabit fiber is 1,000 Mbps. Multi-gig plans (2.5, 5, 10 Gbps) are just the same math scaled up.
Bits are not bytes
The real trap is not Mbps vs Gbps — it is bits vs bytes. Speeds are quoted in bits, but file sizes and download managers use bytes, and there are 8 bits to a byte.
A 1 Gbps connection moves about 125 megabytes per second — one eighth of the megabit figure, because a byte is 8 bits.
Common questions
How many megabits are in a gigabit?
One thousand. Internet speeds use the SI decimal standard, so 1 Gbps = 1,000 Mbps, not 1,024. Divide Mbps by 1,000 to get Gbps.
Is 1 Gbps the same as 1,000 or 1,024 Mbps?
For network speed it is 1,000 Mbps, the decimal standard used by the ITU and IEEE. The 1,024 factor is binary and applies to storage sizes, not data rates.
Is 100 Mbps the same as 100 MBps?
No. Mbps is megabits per second and MBps is megabytes per second. There are 8 bits in a byte, so 100 Mbps equals 12.5 MBps of actual download speed.
