I have a lot of general networking knowledge, but I am unsure about some of the specifics. This topic was lead to me through a question within my statistics class discussing discrete or continuous variables.
The example used the time to download a file from a website.
I know that the maximum speed that a file is capable of being transferred is directly related to the speed of the connection, the protocol used, network conditions, and can be slightly enhanced (or degraded) by the use of compression. Regardless, the fastest possible speed can be calculated for any given connection, but I have never found any information detailing what the minimum sustained transfer rate could be.
Is it possible to go below 1bps?
The minimum for any kind of transfer is 0 unit/second.
If someone temporarily unplugs your router from the internet, during the seconds the router is unplugged you will have 0 bps. If the disconnection is short the connection could recover, but during the disconnect you will have no transfering of data.