What is the term for the maximum data transfer rate of a network?

What is the term for the maximum data transfer rate of a network? Bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be transferred across a network path.

Network bandwidth is usually expressed in bits per second, such as megabits per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps). It describes a connection’s capacity, much like the width of a pipe suggests how much water could pass through it. A higher bandwidth can support more data at once, but it does not guarantee a particular experience.

Throughput is the actual rate achieved in practice, after congestion, protocol overhead, signal quality, and other limitations are considered. Latency is different again: it measures delay, not capacity. “Speed” is common everyday shorthand, but bandwidth is the precise networking term for maximum transfer capacity.

The word also has a technical meaning in communications: frequency bandwidth, measured in hertz, is the range of frequencies a signal occupies. Context matters because network bandwidth and signal bandwidth are related but not identical concepts.