Kbps is short for "Kilobits per second" and is used for the measurement of a modems speed. Kilo stands for a thousand, so modem speed is measured in thousands of bits, unlike other types of Internet speed measurements like Mbps (millions of bits or Megabits per second) and Gbps (billions of bits or Gigabits per second). With the increase of modem speed in the future, it may soon be measured in either Mbps or Gbps.