Confusing bits and bytes

CAIPCall me a stickler for details, but there is a big difference between “kb” and “kB”.

In CAIP’s interrogatory responses to the CRTC, the units seem to be used interchangeably, perpetuating an erroneous statement in one of the attachments that throttled traffic speeds being experienced (around 30kBps) are half of dial-up speeds (56kbps).

Lower case ‘b’ refers to bits. Upper case ‘B’ refers to bytes (with 8 bits to a byte). So, 30 kBps means 30 kilobytes per second which is 240 kbps – around four times dial-up.

Of course, there is still a big difference between 240 kbps and 5 Mbps, so the exageration was not necessary to make their point.

Why would the association continue to make such an obvious mistake in its regulatory filings? Is it just me or does this cast suspicions on the quality of the rest of its complaint?

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