Posted on December 14th, 2009A lot of web hosting companies use the terms bandwidth and data transfer interchangeably. While they are very closely related, they are not one in the same. To clarify the matter, bandwidth refers to how much data can be transferred at a given time. Data transfer is the actual amount of data being transferred. Think of bandwidth as a bridge. The bigger the size, the more vehicles can pass through. In the same scenario, data transfer would represent the number of vehicles able to pass through in a certain amount of time. When a web hosting company talks about bandwidth, they are usually referring to data transfer.
How They Affect Your Website
Bandwidth and disk transfer are both vital to the performance of a website. A site that has less bandwidth will run noticeably slower than one with more. This is the case regardless of the visitor’s connection speed. Without enough data transfer, your site could eventually become inaccessible once you reach your monthly quota. This basically means that your website will be out of business until the a new month begins or you upgrade your hosting plan.
Unlimited Bandwidth and Transfer
Many companies today advertise plans with unlimited bandwidth or data transfer. However, you should keep in mind that bandwidth is a very costly resource. There is simply no such thing as an endless supply. Unfortunately, you typically have no control over bandwidth whether it is labeled unlimited or expressed in specific numbers. The hosting company handles the allocation. This is even true when leasing a dedicated server. Some providers are known for throttling, which is the practice of limiting the number of simultaneous connections. This is something that can make your site run incredibly slow and even prevent some users from gaining access. If this is something you are worried about, ask the hosting company how they control usage or invest in package with a tremendous amount of guaranteed data transfer.
Reducing Usage
There are quite a few ways to reduce the amount of transfer your website uses. The easiest way is to optimize your site to run efficiently with less. This can be done by minimizing the use of Flash or streaming media applications. It would also be a good idea to limit the use of META tags to those that are absolutely necessary. While this may seem as if it is hurting your SEO efforts, using too many keywords actually does more harm than good. Another way to optimize your site is to cache it and set an expiration date in the HTTP headers. This will make certain that the browser refreshes your content after a certain amount of time. Taking note of these simple tips can help you preserve as much as 40% of your bandwidth.
Final Thoughts
Bandwidth and data transfer may be different, but they are both equally important to a website. If you are not sure about how much you need, try reaching out to a few hosting companies for some guidance. The ones who don’t mind helping out could make finding your ideal host much easier.