How does bandwidth and latency relate to broadband speed?
Bandwidth refers to the capacity of a connection to deliver information (measured in bits per second). The broadband speed of your connection can never be faster than its bandwidth capacity. In fact, because bandwidth varies across the various “pipelines” that make up the Internet, your speed cannot be faster than the lowest bandwidth “pipe.” That’s usually the connection that hooks directly to your home—commonly called the “last mile.” Latency is the amount of time it takes for a bunch of information (a packet) to travel from its origin to its destination. Although this cannot be greater than your bandwidth, it is usually far slower than that. Many factors can slow your speed, from viruses to spyware to network software to the current number of users to other drags on performance.
