Internet Speed Explained: Mbps, Ping, Jitter and Packet Loss
Basics4 minInnovialabs editorial team
In short
Mbps shows how much data passes per second, ping shows delay, jitter shows how unstable that delay is, and packet loss shows how much data never arrives; calls need stability, file transfers need bandwidth.
The short answer: four key metrics
Connection quality is described by several numbers, not one:
- Bandwidth (Mbps) — how much data the link carries per second. It determines how fast files download and upload.
- Ping (latency) — the round-trip time to a server, in milliseconds. It affects responsiveness: calls, games, remote desktop.
- Jitter — how much latency varies from packet to packet. High jitter causes choppy audio and video in calls.
- Packet loss — the share of data that never arrives. Even small loss is noticeable in voice and video and slows transfers down.
A link can be "fast" in Mbps and still be poor for calls because of jitter and loss.
Mbps and MB/s are not the same
Providers quote speed in megabits per second (Mbps), while browsers and apps show download speed in megabytes per second (MB/s).
One byte is 8 bits, so:
MB/s ≈ Mbps / 8
100 Mbps ≈ 12.5 MB/s
In practice the number will be slightly lower because of protocol overhead. If your plan is 100 Mbps and a file downloads at around 11–12 MB/s, the link is working fine.
Download vs upload
- Download — receiving: websites, video, updates.
- Upload — sending: video calls with a camera, uploading files to the cloud, backups, remote access to an office server.
Many plans have much lower upload than download. For an office that relies on the cloud and video calls, upload often matters more than it seems. Ask your provider for both figures.
How to test properly
- Use a cable. A Wi-Fi test mostly measures your Wi-Fi, not your internet.
- Pause downloads and syncing on that computer and, if possible, ask colleagues not to pull large files during the test.
- Try several servers and different services — results depend on the route.
- Test at different times of day, especially during office peak hours.
- Look beyond speed: ping, jitter and loss matter too. A long ping run is a simple way to check loss.
# Windows: 100 requests, loss and latency stats at the end
ping -n 100 8.8.8.8
# macOS / Linux
ping -c 100 8.8.8.8
- Compare with a test right at the router. If it is good there but poor at desks, the problem is your internal network, not the provider.
How much bandwidth an office needs
There is no universal "per employee" figure — work from actual load:
- List the tasks: video calls, cloud documents, CRM, large file uploads, backups, cameras viewed remotely.
- Check each service's requirements in its official documentation: video conferencing services usually state how much a call needs in each direction at a given quality.
- Estimate peak concurrency: how many people are actually on calls at the same time, not how many are on staff.
- Count upload separately: calls, cloud sync and backups load the outbound link.
- Add headroom for team growth and background traffic such as updates and syncing.
- Move heavy jobs off-hours: run backups and large exports at night.
If the load does not fit, besides a faster plan, traffic prioritisation (QoS) for calls and a second link from another provider as a backup both help.
Common mistakes
- Testing over Wi-Fi through two walls and blaming the provider.
- Comparing the plan's Mbps with MB/s in the browser.
- Looking only at download when the complaints are about calls.
- Running a single test and drawing conclusions.