Kilobyte, Megabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte, etc. There are four examples of data metrics unit that isn't a strange things for us. In this new technology era, these metric units are usually used for measuring the computer file size. But, sometimes these metrics can be confusing too.
One of famous internet provider is write "up to 7.2 Mbps" on their internet facility description brochure, what are you thinking?
But, in the same time the internet provider is write down the price of their service. You got 1 GB on every 55.000 rupiahs you've spent. What are you thinking about these? Is there any relation between the internet volume and the download speed? Is there any difference? Before we talk about that, let's pay attention the explanation below.
When you bought any internet packet and checking its quota, you will see that you're registered to internet service with 1.000.000 kilobyte quota, is that right? But, if you use it for internet browsing, the speed is only on 720 Kilobyte per second level. And you feel that you've cheated by the provider (because they wrote down the speed is up to 7.2 Mbps). Did you are really cheated by the provider?
1 byte actually is equal with 8 but (but many provider is rounding up the unit to the 10 bit). And if 1 Gigabyte is equal with 1.000.000, this means if you have 1 Gigabyte quota, so you have 1.000.000 Kilobyte (you really know about this). But, how about the speed that "only" 720 Kilobyte per second?
Remember, 1 byte is equal with 8 or 10 bit and the abbreviation for the bit is usually write down with the lowercase format. For example Kb is abbreviation of Kilobit while KB is abbreviation of Kilobyte. This means, 7.2 Mbps is equal with 7.2 Megabit per second or equal with 0.72 - 0.90 Megabyte per second. 0.72 - 0.90 Megabyte per second is equal with 720 - 900 Kilobyte per second.
The major of internet providers is usually use the bit metrics because bit is The International System of Units for data, and 1 bit is equal with data size of single character on the computer.
So, the internet provider isn't really cheated you. They can't be blamed for your misconception of data metrics that they used. How about the volume data unit? The providers is using the byte format to make the customer to easily understand on how much the quota they have and how much data they have spent for download or upload. Imagine if you are using the bit metrics but you want to download a big file that use byte metric. This can ends to very confusing things.
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