What is Bandwidth or Allowed Data Transfer?

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For optimal website performance, there are multiple points that you should care for. Whether it is about the security or the server type, all play an important role in the optimal website performance.

Bandwidth and allowed data transfer are the two most important terms to consider while choosing a web hosting service provider. Though many service providers use these terms interchangeably, they both belong to two different worlds. And as a user, it is essential that you know the differences between the two and why you should consider them.

Bandwidth and its importance

Formally, the bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred at a time. This was first used for the analog systems to refer to the amount of data transferred in a given period.

In other words, the bandwidth can be treated as the capacity of the system for transferring the data through the servers. At any given time, the bandwidth can be treated as the maximum amount of output, regardless of the system conditions. However, as it is an ideal term that represents the maximum capacity, a larger and more promising bandwidth should not confuse you. There are numerous factors that affect the bandwidth and you should be well aware of the consequences.

However, it doesn’t mean that you should ignore the bandwidth while choosing a service provider. The lesser bandwidth may cause slower page loading. And this can easily ruin your business. So, make sure that the service provider you are choosing is providing adequate bandwidth for the website. Depending on the page visits on your website and the size of your web pages, the monthly requirement of the bandwidth varies, and you should know what you need.

Allowed data transfer and its importance

Allowed data transfer is the actual amount of data transferred. The actual amount of the data transfer means how much amount of bandwidth is being used is the key aspect to consider while choosing a perfect web hosting service provider. It is not always the case that your website uses the full bandwidth. But in order to keep your website running flawlessly, you must choose a better bandwidth.

The concept of bandwidth and allowed data transfer plays an important role in the world wide web and this simply can be related to the speed and efficiency of the network. The bandwidth may be an important term to consider, but still, the thing that matters the most is the allowed data transfer.

To know your website’s requirements, you will need to know a few statistics related to your website and its performance. These terms are:

  • Number of visitors on your website
  • Average page size
  • Expected page views

The simple formula to know your website’s monthly data requirement is

Number of visitors x page size x page views x 30 days

This simple formula will help you understand the monthly requirement of the website and you can go with the required plan more effectively.

What if the bandwidth is less than needed?

There are cases when we can’t get enough bandwidth for the website. Also, there may be a case that the bandwidth requirements of the website get larger than the expectations. However, there are a few things that you can implement to get the optimal performance with the limited bandwidth.

The first and the most efficient way to get the optimal performance from the website even in the low bandwidth is to use the low size images and file types. There are numerous file types and formats that are primarily meant for the websites and you can get the most effective results without wasting the allotted bandwidth. So, try your hands on such file types and formats and get your website running without a lag even with lower bandwidth. Similarly, you can estimate the peak hours when the visitors usually visit your website and then limit the graphics hungry commands and scripts to get the best performance with the least resources available.

Bottom Line

So, along with many other important things to consider while choosing an ideal web hosting service provider, make sure that you know about the bandwidth and the allowed data transfer allocated by the service provider. This will help you get the optimal and most reliable performance from the website without any lag or customer dissatisfaction.

Just know your website content and visitors well and you will be able to choose the correct bandwidth and data transfer needs of the website.  Go with the service provider who has better infrastructure and offers good bandwidth to your website to perform flawlessly.