Yes... 8 bits is a byte.
It will be plenty fast enough for you however if that is what you are worried about. The majority of your internet commuication will be using the download speed (in your case 1.5MBps). That is the same speed that a T1 operates at.
The majority of your upload speed will be used when sending mail (presuming that you won't be doing alot of file uploads.. like FTP and such). But either way, you will be pleasantly surprised.
And as for the question of DSL or Cable being better... remember that with DSL you are your own network segment, you aren't sharing your bandwidth with your neighbors. And what mavsman said can't be validated because it depends on the commited bandwidth for the segment you are on.
I like my Dad's Cable connection. I will scan his IP subnet for other hosts (neighbors) and look and see what I can go hack. [img]i/expressions/moon.gif[/img]
That reminds me Erica, make sure you get a firewall. Hackers love nothing more than an unprotected broadband host.
If you don't want to invest right now in a hardware based firewall (like Linksys.. you can get them relatively cheaply)
Linksys website, then you can download a free personal firewall software called ZoneAlarm from
here.