8 bits in a Byte

[aidanjt]

That's what we were taught on my degree course (Electronic Engineering). I can see that ISPs are using it on purpose to attempt to confuse the general public, most of whom that I know do not realise that the B is lower case and is referring to individual bits and not bytes. In marketing terms using bytes would mean advertised speeds would be lower and thus sound less impressive. That's how I see the bits/bytes argument. Why should they change what the public are falling for?

If every ISP is using bit metrics to advertise their connection performance (and they all do, because that's the accepted measurement used in data comms), then the scale of comparison is linear and thus not misleading.

[duc]

I always divide by 10. There are 8bits in a byte, but, in data communications there's usually the stop & start bit; making 10bits in total. Plus, it makes the maths easier.