A modem can also, of course, demodulate the sound waves back into digital information. Most of the transmission rates we discuss in this article are in bits.
Bits are the units that make up binary files.
As a frame of reference you should know that a byte usually consists of about 6 to 8 bits, and commonly represents one character in a document. Table A shows the ratios among data transmission units. To put bits and bytes into perspective, it's useful to look at the file sizes shown in Table B, which are in Kilobytes and bytes. Remember one byte represents approximately 8 bits. Of course, the amount of data being transferred over a modem is also a significant factor in perceived transmission rates.