Bandwidth Explained

by Breal Web Design

What is Bandwidth and Data Transfer?

Simply put, bandwidth and data transfer are synonomous,

referring to the amount of data sent to and from visitors

and your website. It is calculated by the size of your web

page and includes all scripting and images on a page. For

example, if you have a page totalling 20KB in file size,

then when a visitor loads that page on their browser, they

are receiving 20KB of data.

This means to calculate bandwidth, you need to consider

a) the size of your pages (or website)

b) the number of visitors to your website

c) the kind of files you offer your visitors.

Most personal websites have only a small amount of data

transfer, as their websites are small in file size and they

do not have a lot of visitors. Business and professional

sites are larger with more visitors and therefore use more

data transfer. Breal's entire site is under 2 MB in file

size. Some sites may be significantly larger, especially if

they offer many graphics, audio, video or download files.

Using Breal as an example, if 1,000 visitors viewed every

page on the site, the total data transfer would be 2 GB

(1,000 x 2 MB = 2,000 MB) or a single 10 KB file could be

viewed 200,000 times and the data transfer would be 2 GB.

Most professional level websites will use less than 2 GB

bandwidth per month.

Why do some companies charge for bandwidth and data

transfer, while others claim you can have unlimited bandwith

and data transfer?

Strangely enough, free on the Internet often means fee. Look

closely at many of the unlimited offers and you will

discover that there is a limit to bandwidth. You may need to

contact the company and ask them to define what they mean by

'unlimited'.

For information on Breal's hosting plans, visit

http://www.brealweb.com/hosting/hosting.asp

Breal provides cost effective web site design and hosting

with a full 30 day money back guarantee. Web hosting even

comes with six months free hosting on yearly accounts. To

find out more visit http://www.brealweb.com

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