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Unlimited Bandwidth in Web Hosting
Unlimited Bandwidth in Web Hosting
by Ashish Jain
Bandwidth explained:
Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you are allowed to have for a
hosting package i.e. Let’s say you have a web page that is 48KB in size, now
each time a user opens your site and goes to that page S/he downloads 48 KB of
information on to their computer. If a 100 users view that page one time each
then there has been a total of 4800 KB of data transferred from the server on
which your files are stored for the computer of users.
Size of web Page: 48 KB
Number of users who viewed the web page: 100
Total amount of data transferred: 48KB * 100 = 4800 KB
Bandwidth is the term that is used to denote the amount of data that has been
transferred from your web space.
The amount of bandwidth that you require while choosing a host depends on two
factors:
> The size of your site.
> The popularity of your site.
If your site is not very huge and you do not have any audio/video downloads
and it’s not very popular i.e. not a lot of people visit your site then you do
not really require a lot of bandwidth, on a average a web site uses up only
500 MB of bandwidth per month. Or if your site is small but extremely popular
then you might have to go for a web hosting package that offers high
bandwidth.
On the other hand if your web site is huge, providing audio/video downloads,
as well as being very popular then you would certainly require a huge amount
of bandwidth. Let’s say you have a video file that is 150 MB in size and in a
single day a 100 visitors download the file. This means that 15 GB of
bandwidth will have been used. If you multiply that by 30 days for the month
it comes to 450 GB.
The unlimited bandwidth controversy
For some time now a lot of hosting companies are supposedly providing
"unlimited bandwidth" for their web hosting packages.
It’s absolutely true, you can have unlimited bandwidth. However, you will need
an unlimited amount of money by your side! Jokes apart, if you ever come
across such a host it would be best to turn around and run back the way you
came from.
Just think, if you can get unlimited bandwidth for $25-30 a month then why
aren’t big companies like Sun, Microsoft etc. not hosted there? In fact, why
isn't everyone hosted there? For that matter, if unlimited is a standard
feature then why don’t all the hosts offer it? Is it because it is expensive
and requires better hardware? No, it’s because some hosts are honest and don’t
give in to such gimmicks.
Statistically speaking, a T1 Internet connection (huge broadband) equals
approximately 500GB per month and costs around $1200 per month. So how can it
be possible to get the same or unlimited for $30 a month?
There are a lot of ways you can be duped by these ‘ unlimited’ hosts; here are
just a few of them:
The secret of ‘unlimited’ is actually buried in the Terms of Service by the
host. Do not be surprised to find that unlimited = 15 GB.
The host may restrict the sort of files that you can host on their server.
Generally image galleries and audio/video files attract a lot more downloads
thereby resulting in higher bandwidth consumption. So if there are no files of
this type, your site won’t really require a lot of bandwidth.
Some newly opened hosts use it as a scam. They take your money and after a few
months when their server starts to become slow or reaches its limit, they run…
with your money!
Some hosts outline in their Terms of Service that you can have unlimited
bandwidth as long as you qualify for it. i.e. Your site must use less then,
let’s say 2 GB of bandwidth in order to qualify for the unlimited bandwidth
feature. As soon as your site goes over that limit they either start charging
you for it or cut off your downloads altogether.
In life it’s a universal truth that you always get what you pay for, and it’s
no different for web hosting.
If a host is using a cheap advertising gimmick like ‘unlimited’ bandwidth they
maybe lying about a few other things too. Their ‘dedicated’ support team could
be a single person (the hoster itself in most cases) sitting in front of a
computer and taking your calls.
Do you really want unlimited bandwidth hosting from hosts that have very
limited resources at their disposal? Or, do you want to go for a host that has
spent thousands of dollars on setting up a good network infrastructure,
servers, and a highly qualified and dedicated support team? The choice
ultimately is yours and yours alone.
Ashish Jain
M6.Net Web Helpers
http://www.m6.net
This article is reprinted with permission from www.WritingCareer.com