| Bandwidth, data transfer, water and pipes - how not | | | | particularly if you plan on investing in advertising |
| to be confused | | | | campaigns. |
| A popular misconception among many people, as | | | | In either case, use the equation below to get an |
| well as web hosting providers, is that bandwidth and | | | | estimated monthly data transfer figure: |
| data transfer are the same. This is probably due to | | | | Number of expected visitor x Average size of |
| the fact that they are very closely linked, but for | | | | pages (including graphics) x Expected number of |
| anyone who is subscribed to a web hosting service, | | | | pages viewed per visit x 30 = Monthly Data Transfer |
| knowing the difference can save both time and | | | | Bandwidth is rarely under your control |
| money. | | | | Bandwidth, unlike data transfer, cannot normally be |
| Put simply, bandwidth is the quantity of data that | | | | increased. It is an extremely expensive commodity. |
| can be transferred from a website at any one time, | | | | The more visitors looking at a website, the less |
| while data transfer is the amount transferred over a | | | | bandwidth there is available, and the slower the site |
| period of time. This is where the water and pipes | | | | will download. Getting a web hosting solution with |
| come in. A pipe would be bandwidth - the bigger the | | | | good bandwidth is really important. |
| pipe, the more water could pass through. However, | | | | Throttling, the limiting of the number of users able |
| data transfer would be the amount of water in the | | | | to view your website at the same time, is |
| pipe in a month, for example. Essentially, data | | | | sometimes a method employed by web hosting |
| transfer is the use of bandwidth. | | | | companies (particularly on the more affordable web |
| Why should you care? | | | | site hosting plans) to keep websites within their |
| The lower your bandwidth provided by your web | | | | bandwidth restrictions. If you think this may |
| hosting provider, the slower your site will download | | | | negatively affect your website, get in contact with |
| to users' computers, irrespective of how fast their | | | | the web hosting company for more information. |
| Internet connections are. If multiple users are | | | | What you can do |
| accessing your site at once, they may find that they | | | | A large part of all computer-based work is to do |
| experience extremely slow, or no, connectivity. | | | | with efficiency, and this is especially true of web |
| Data transfer allowances control how much data can | | | | design, particularly when working within the confines |
| be transferred from your site over a certain time. | | | | of a web site hosting plan. By making simpler, |
| For example, a web hosting provider may impose a | | | | efficient websites, you can reduce both the amount |
| limit of 2 gigabytes of data per month. If your | | | | of bandwidth and data transfer your site uses. |
| website exceeds this, it may be taken offline until | | | | Simple things like using more space-efficient graphic |
| the next month. | | | | formats (such as highly compressed JPEGs), |
| You will often be given an option to upgrade your | | | | separating JavaScript into a separate file from the |
| bandwidth or data transfer allowance, and even the | | | | HTML, using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and |
| more affordable web site hosting plans can give you | | | | trimming down unnecessary white space in HTML |
| flexibility in this department. | | | | files can all help reduce the amount of data flowing |
| So what do you need? | | | | out of your site, and allow you to stick with |
| Unfortunately, the confusion between bandwidth | | | | affordable web hosting plan. |
| and data transfer is now widespread, and the two | | | | Allowing your website to be cached by web |
| terms have become interchangeable. | | | | browsers is also a great way to keep data transfer |
| Normally, web hosts will refer to data transfer as | | | | down, although using an "Expires" META tag might be |
| bandwidth. If you've already got a site online, it's | | | | a good idea so that users don't end up accidentally |
| very easy to estimate how much data transfer | | | | seeing old versions of your site. |
| allowance you'll need. Statistics such as number of | | | | Danny Vong is a writer for , the BEST web hosting |
| visitors per day enable you to calculate roughly how | | | | comparison portal on the net! With all the major web |
| much will be downloaded from your site per month. | | | | hosting companies reviewed and rated and listed in |
| If you haven't got the site up and running, you | | | | the top 10 hosting companies list. |
| should estimate using quite an optimistic guess, | | | | |