Some web hosts will offer “unlimited
bandwidth." Sounds great, but if you understand shared hosting,
you'll know it is impossible for a web host to supply “unlimited”
anything. Unlimited bandwidth is more or less a marketing ploy based
on the assumption that no user will come close to exceeding
bandwidth allotments. However, hosts may still have fines or fees
for using too much, "unlimited" or not, so make sure you ask your
web host how they define unlimited if this is their
offer.
What is bandwidth?
Because you
share a server with many other web sites your web host must keep
track of how much disk space and bandwidth your site uses. Bandwidth
is basically the amount of traffic and content that will be
requested from the web hosts server for a set period of time. When a
visitor requests a page (ie. types in your domain name into the web
browser) the server is contacted and will return your site along
with all the graphics and text. The more traffic (requests for your
website) you will have the more bandwidth you will need.
How much bandwidth will I
need?
As with disk space, if you exceed your allotment for
bandwidth your host can charge you a hefty fee. So it is important
to know how much you need. Here is the formula for determining the
approximate amount of monthly bandwidth your site will
need.
Number of pages x .05MB x
Number of visitors/month= Total Bandwidth/month
This
formula is based on each visitor viewing each page in your site
once. Obviously this won’t always be the case. Some visitors may
only look at ¼ of your site, while others will scour each page
twice. It all averages out in the end.
