How Much Bandwidth Your Website Requires?

Bandwidth is measured in bits per second. It denotes the rate of data transfer over an internet connection. You have to decide bandwidth requirement while choosing web hosting plans.

When choosing your hosting plan be careful about the 'unlimited bandwidth' offer from some companies. It is not possible. There is no broadband company offering 'unlimited megabytes per second'. As such the hosting companies with no own access lines cannot claim to offer unlimited bandwidth.

The websites with high band width, hosted on these 'unlimited plans often get disconnected for excess use of band width. The hosting company will simply sight the violation of their Terms of Service. Before opting for a hosting plan carefully study the Terms Of Service of the hosting company. Look out for the 'Unlimited' disclaimer text in their Terms of Service.

Choose a hosting company that offers service in clear cut terms. Select a plan that clearly states the band width offered. You plan your bandwidth requirement by watching the usage in the first few months.

• The presence of large audio or video files.
   

• Are you providing download options.
   

• More Flash requires more bandwidth.

• Three dimensional audio visual presentations required even more bandwidth.

All these factors will help you to ascertain your bandwidth requirement. Though you cannot measure it exactly you can very well judge the approximate requirement until your site has been online for a considerable period. You can upgrade to a hosting plan offering more bandwidth if your bandwidth requirement shoots up.