Difference Between Bandwidth and Frequency

Bandwidth and frequency both are the measuring terms of networking. The basic difference between bandwidth and frequency is that bandwidth measures the amount of data transferred per second whereas the frequency measure the number of oscillation of the data signal per second. Let us study the comparison chart of the bandwidth and frequency.

Content: Bandwidth Vs Frequency

1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Conclusion

Comparison Chart

Basis for Comparison	Bandwidth	Frequency
Basic	Bandwidth measures the amount of data that can be transmitted in per unit time.	Frequency measures the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time.
Unit	Bits/sec.	Hertz.

Definition of Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a term in networking used to measure the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in per unit time. Bandwidth can be explained with the help of an example. Let us imagine that the bandwidth is a highway and number of vehicles on the highway is the amount of data being transmitted per unit time.

More the bandwidth, more the amount of data can be transmitted at per unit time. Bandwidth can also be explained as the range of signal between the higher (maximum) and lower(minimum) frequency that a signal can contain.

The formula to calculate the bandwidth is as follow:

Definition of Frequency

Frequency” is the term to measure the number of oscillations that occur in a data signal in per second. In networking, the data is passed in the form of the signals which are made up of waves. The frequency of the signal is measured by the number of times the signal oscillates in per second.

The formula to calculate the frequency is given by:

Conclusion

The bandwidth can be referred to as the range of the component frequencies that is contained in the signal. It can be said that the bandwidth is directly proportional to the signal. Larger the bandwidth is larger the frequencies it can contain.