Understanding bandwidth

What does "100 Mbps" or "1 Gbps" actually mean?

It's the throughput ceiling of your node — how fast data can be downloaded from your endpoint. Mbps is megabits per second. To estimate megabytes per second, divide by 8: 1 Gbps ≈ 125 MB/s at the theoretical maximum, before normal protocol overhead.

Is the limit on speed or on how much I store/transfer?

The tier limits throughput (speed), not a count of requests or objects. There's no per-request fee tied to the tier. Higher tiers simply let data move faster.

How fast will a single transfer go?

A single transfer can use up to your tier ceiling, but real speed also depends on your own connection, distance to the node, object sizes, and client concurrency. See Performance and Throughput & speed.

Why am I not hitting my full tier speed?

Most often because one stream can't saturate the link on its own. Running parallel transfers, choosing a closer region, and using larger objects usually gets you much closer to the ceiling.

Mbps vs MB/s — quick reference

Tier	Mbps	Approx. max MB/s
100 Mbps	100	~12.5 MB/s
400 Mbps	400	~50 MB/s
1 Gbps	1000	~125 MB/s
2 Gbps	2000	~250 MB/s
3 Gbps	3000	~375 MB/s

These are theoretical maximums; real-world throughput is somewhat lower after overhead.

What happens if I exceed my tier?

Throughput is capped at your tier — transfers keep working, they just won't exceed the ceiling. If you regularly need more, move up a tier.

Does the tier limit my download speed?

Yes — the tier is your download throughput ceiling (ZenDRIVE S3 Access is read-only). If you have a specific high-throughput pattern and want guidance, email support@clearstreamer.com.