Throughput Versus Bandwidth in brief
Both bandwidth and throughput are network metrics! That’s true, but … what’s the different ?
What are Bandwidth and Throughput?
Bandwidth:
In computer network, bandwidth is defined as the maximum number of bits that can flow through a network connection in a given period of time. The fundamental unit of network bandwidth is bits per second (bps).
Throughput:
In computer network, throughput is defined as the actual number of bits that flows through a network connection in a given period of time, and it has the same fundamental unit (bps).
The main difference between the two metrics:
1. Throughput is always less than or equal to bandwidth but can never exceed bandwidth.
2. The physical layer is used to specify the bandwidth while throughput can be measured at each layer of the OSI model.
3. Bandwidth does not depend on the latency, but throughput depends on the latency.
4. The bandwidth is not affected by physical obstruction as it a theoretical unit to some extent. On the contrary, throughput can be easily affected by an increase in interference, network traffic, network devices, transmission errors and the host of other variants.
5. Throughput is often confused with bandwidth in Internet Speed, When you buy an Internet connection at a certain speed, you are theoretically getting a specific bandwidth connection. But in real life, you’ll be affected by other factors and will end up getting the throughput.
So basically this is the main difference between the two.
Simple explanation:
The concept of bandwidth and throughput can be explained by a real-life example of the water tap. The speed at which water comes out from the valve would vary in accordance with the opening of the valve. Here, the bandwidth of the tap is the speed at which water is coming out and throughput is the total amount of water that comes out.
Conclusion:
The terms bandwidth and throughput are distinguished by the effect of the flow control protocols. However, the bandwidth and throughput can be similar when the speed of sending and receiving interfaces and the communication medium is equal, and the data is transferred in a consistent manner.
