Web Hosting Bandwidth -- How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?

Bandwidth in its simplest terms refers to the amount of data that flows across a network wire in a given time period. For most web hosting providers, that time period is measured in a month. Web hosting providers are charged a certain amount per month or per year for an allocated amount of bandwidth from backbone providers and wholesale data centers. That cost is then passed on to the consumer in the form of web hosting plans.

How much bandwidth will your website use?

With so much variation among web hosting companies, it can sometimes be difficult to know how much bandwidth your website will need. So, how much is a gigabyte of bandwidth anyway? Let's put it in perspective. If an average web page, images and all is 50 kilobytes in size, your website could be viewed 20,000 times! For the average hobby website, that is more than enough. Let's further put that 20,000 in perspective. If each visitor to your website viewed an average of 4 pages per month, it would still represent over 5,000 unique visitors to your website every month. Now if your website has lots of pictures on it though, then one gigabyte of bandwidth will allow for fewer visitors.

Beware of bandwidth usage when offering file downloads

While offering simple web pages doesn't use up much bandwidth, the same can't be said about downloading files. If you plan on allowing people to download music files, pdf files, flash files, or video files, you can eat up bandwidth in a hurry even with a relatively small number of people visiting your website. If your website offers an adobe .pdf file that is 1 megabyte in size, with one gigabyte of bandwidth, you will only be able to serve up one thousand downloads. This does not including the html needed to get people to download the pdf in the first place.

Video files eat up even more space. A one megabyte video file represents only seconds of video. For a half hour presentation, your video file could easily be over two hundred megabytes in size! At that size, one gigabyte would only allow you to offer five downloads to your visitors. What you plan to do with your website most definitely will affect how much monthly bandwidth you anticipate needing.

Overselling bandwidth is common in the web hosting industry

Because more people use only a fraction of their allotted bandwidth per month, most web hosting providers price their plans knowing that most people will only use a fraction of the resources available to them. In fact, with most companies, if you did use the maximum bandwidth available to you each month, you would most likely be shut down. If you go with a shared hosting account, your website can be hosted with hundreds or thousands of other websites. If your website starts to use a significant portion of the server's resources, you may find them pulling the plug on your website. If you know your website is going to need significant resources, you should probably consider getting yourself a dedicated server or at the very least look for assurances in writing that your web hosting provider will honor your bandwidth needs.

Knowing what you plan to do will allow you to know how much you need

By knowing what you plan to do with your hosting account, you can have a pretty good idea of how much bandwidth you're going to need. If you anticipate that you will be needing to serve lots of multimedia including video, music and large amounts of flash powered pages, you may need to consider going with a dedicated server. If your website is just starting out and you have little money and no real idea of how much bandwidth you're going to need, pick a company that gives you more than you think you'll need at a reasonable price. Make sure you also find out how much they will charge you for any bandwidth you use above and beyond what comes in your hosting package. If it is one dollar per megabyte and you've already exceeded a twenty gigabyte bandwidth limit, changes are, you'll get one hefty bill at the end of the month. When shopping around and looking at bandwidth, keep the overage cost in mind as well and you'll do fine.

This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/, a web hosting company that strives to make it easy to setup and maintain your website. Copyright 2004 Yowling. Reprint Freely as long as you link back to my website from this resource box.

---

Budget Web Hosting - Are They All Created Equal?

Choosing a budget web hosting company can be overwhelming. In... Read More

How To Find The Best Web Hosting For You

Deciding on the best web hosting company for a web... Read More

How To Choose The Best Web Host For You

Web Hosting is a service. Auto mechanics also provide a... Read More

Web Hosting: 4 Factors in Choosing a Hosting Company

When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole... Read More

GBs and Gbs of Web Hosting

What is web hosting you ask? Web hosting refers to... Read More

Web Hosting Solutions In Birmingham

Once you have a website you then need to think... Read More

How VOIP Has Helped Change Web Hosting

There is really no stopping VOIP (voice over internet protocol)... Read More

How Multiple Server Hosting impacts your websites uptime

This article describes the technology behind multiple server hosting and... Read More

Web Hosting Bandwidth -- How Much Bandwidth Is Enough?

Bandwidth in its simplest terms refers to the amount of... Read More

The Perfect Support

Hosting Support ? An IntroductionImagine yourself as a person running... Read More

Woe the Web

Finding a good and reliable web hosting company is like... Read More

Beware of the Hidden Perils of Low Cost Hosting

Some folks classify low cost web hosting on the same... Read More

Uptime Guarantee ? Good Idea?

When looking for a Web Host there are lots of... Read More

Dont Get Fooled by the Web Hosting Wolves in Sheeps Clothing!

Are you looking for web hosting? If you want to... Read More

Top 6 Ways to Promote Your Web Hosting Business Part 2

Here are the following three methods that can help you... Read More

UNIX vs. Windows- What Server Operating System Should You Use for Your Web Hosting?

So you've decided to create a website? The most obvious... Read More

Cheap Web Hosting - When Cheaper is Better

Anyone who has ever shopped for web hosting knows that... Read More

Reseller Web Hosting - A Cheaper Alternative?

There comes a time when the internet bug hits us... Read More

Web Hosting Services Absolutely Necessary for Your Websites Success

Web hosting services play a vital part in your website's... Read More

Top 10 Web Hosting Blunders and How to Avoid Them

Consider the following web hosting blunders and do not allow... Read More

Web Hosting: Which Is The Host With The Most?

So you want to publish a web site do you?... Read More

How to Find Good Web Hosting for Your Site!

When building your first site the main things that you... Read More

Choosing a Right Hosting Solution

You must have done all the hard works for developing... Read More

Bound To Your Old Expensive Web Host by Fear?

You're not alone! Many people are bound to the old... Read More

Solving Common Problems with Hosting Companies

For those of you with Web sites, you probably know... Read More

Choosing Your Web Hosting Reseller Software

As a web host reseller, one of your most important... Read More

In Search of Webhosting: First Understand the Industry

In search of a webhosting company for personal or small... Read More

Web Hosting: Shared or Dedicated - Which Should You Choose?

Before you begin your search for a web host you... Read More

The ?Website? CHECKLIST : Domains, Hosting, Web Design

This article is meant to all who already have a... Read More

Windows vs Linux : Hosting

The Basics of Linux & Windows :Linux (and its close... Read More

Dedicated Server Price Check

The price of dedicated hosting services has really come down... Read More

Personal Web Hosting ? Free Or Cheap?

After you have spent some time and creativity on designing... Read More

Switching Web Host

Moving a web site to a new host is not... Read More