Glossary:
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is a measure of the maximum amount of information that can be transmitted along a channel.
It describes the amount of information that can be passed through a communications channel in a given amount of time and for digital information is expressed in bits per second.
For example a DSL internet connection has a bandwidth of 1.54 Mega bits (Mb) per second.
The more bandwidth a particular connection has, the faster the data can be transmitted. This is why bandwidth is commonly thought of as the speed of a connection.
Internet service providers usually combine many users on one connection channel, therefore sharing the total bandwidth. This is one explaination of why the internet may appear to be slow during peak periods.