Comment by robomartin

> That means each laser is grossly underused on average, at 0.432% of its maximum capacity.

Don't forget that every communication protocol has fixed and variable overhead.

The first is a function of the packet structure. It can be calculated by simply dividing the payload capacity of a packet by the total number of bits transmitted for that same packet.

Variable overhead is more complex. It has to do with transactions, negotiations, retries, etc.

For example, while the theoretical overhead of TCP/IP is in the order of 5%, actual overhead could be as high as 20% under certain circumstances. In other words, 20% of the bits transmitted are not data payload but rather the cost of doing business.