This difference is where, on the surface, it all seems to fall apart. RELATED: Why You Probably Aren't Getting the Internet Speeds You're Paying For (and How to Tell) In other words, the byte system that your operating system uses is a bunch of bits strung together in groups of eight. Another term, used by computer scientists to avoid confusion over the different size byte structures out there in the world, is octet. A byte, however, is a unit of digital information that (in many operating systems, including Windows) is eight bits long. A bit, as we’ve established, is the tiniest unit of measurement in the digital kingdom, that primordial 1 or 0. Computer storage is not measured in bits, it’s measured in bytes. Now, here’s where things get confusing for the average non-geeky-Joe. Originally, networks were so slow that their speed was measured in just bits, but as network speeds increased, we started measuring internet speed in kilobits per second (remember 56k modems? That meant 56 kilobits per second), and now, megabits per second. The speed of a network is denoted using a bit-per-second notation. RELATED: How to Find the Fastest ISP in Your Area Bit, in fact, is a contraction of the the longer phrase “Binary Digit”. Bits are most commonly represented in the binary system, via 0 and 1. A bit is the smallest and most basic unit of measurement in computing and digital communications. Data transfer over networks has always been measured in bits. Let’s start by delving back into the history of computer networks.

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