throughput
How much data per second actually gets through.
Throughput is the rate of useful data delivered, in bits or bytes per second, which is at most the link's capacity and often far less.
Examples
Sending 1,000 small readings one per 5 ms round trip takes 5 s, so useful throughput is far below the link's rate.
A link can carry a million bits a second yet deliver much less useful data once headers, waits and resends are counted.
See also