A gig is a unit of information that is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. When you hear someone say they have a "gig" of data, they are referring to a unit of measurement that is composed of 1,000,000,000 bytes. A gig is also sometimes referred to as a "gigabyte."
A gig is a unit of information that equals 1,024 megabytes (1,048,576 kilobytes). In terms of data storage, a gigabyte is the equivalent of a small hard drive. When used in reference to data transfer, a gigabyte is a measure of how much data can be transferred in a given amount of time. For example, a gigabit Ethernet connection can transfer 1 gigabyte of data in 10 seconds.
1 gigabit per second broadband speeds will enable new levels of service and applications for consumers and businesses. This is a huge increase from the current average broadband speeds in the U.S. of 10 megabits per second. With 1 gigabit speed, you can download a high-definition movie in less than 30 seconds, compared to the several minutes it would take with current speeds. This increased speed will also enable new services, such as real-time 4K video streaming and virtual reality applications.