Much better, because what the heck is "internet speed". The most sensible definition to me is payload over IP protocol possibly on an existing commercial link. That's the only way I see relation to internet and the internet.
In the past, the "Internet speed record" was measured in units such as "terabit meters-per-second":
> ... they had managed to send nearly 840 gigabytes of data across a distance of 16,346 kilometers (10,157 miles) in less than 27 minutes, at an average speed of 4.23 gigabits per second.
> This was equal to 69,073 terabit meters per second (or 69,073 trillion bits sent through one meter in a second), which exceeded the previous record set by CalTech and CERN earlier this year. [0]
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> The team successfully transferred data at a rate of 8.80Gbps, which is equal to 264,147 terabit-meters per second (Tb-m/s). [1]
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> Internet2 ... has this week announced a stunning new record speed of 9.08Gbps - equal to 272,400 terabit-meters per second (Tb-m/s) [2]
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No idea if it's still done that way or not but I don't see any mention of distance in this article (haven't looked at the paper).
Which is exactly why it was chosen, the 'purpose' of networks is moving data from point A to point B so the 'goodness' of networks is how much data from point A to point B and how far away is point A from point B.
Then the Internet became a transport for time sensitive data (movies, voice, Etc.) and so the latency between bits gets wedged in sometimes.
