You need to assess the requirements of your business if you are planning to invest in web hosting. You might be wondering what web hosting bandwidth is. The concept of bandwidth can be far more difficult and complex to understand than what you think. In this article, we want to simplify things and familiarize you with the concept of bandwidth.
Written on by Julia Lozanov
Estimated read time 5 minutes
What Is Web Hosting Bandwidth?
When it comes to web hosting, bandwidth is the amount of data your site can transfer to your users in a certain amount of time. Usually, Gigabytes (GB) are used to calculate and sell bandwidth, even though some of the companies offer unlimited bandwidth.
Website Bandwidth Vs. Website Traffic: What’s the Difference
Website traffic vs. website bandwidth is like cars vs. highways. The number of cars on the highway is the traffic, while the number of lanes on the highway is the bandwidth. Bandwidth is the number of bits that can be transferred on network connections in a certain period of time, while traffic is the number of bits that are transferred on network connections.
Why Is Bandwidth Important?
The importance of bandwidth is huge because it determines how fast a page will load on your browser. When choosing a web hosting provider, this is one of the essential things you should consider. The internet connection and website can significantly affect the bandwidth. If you’re interested in the importance of bandwidth, make sure you read some more on the subject.
How to Check Your Bandwidth?
In the control panel, you need to look for a section that allows you to view the resource activity of your site. Each host has this section looking different. Some of the hosts display a link or icon to make this easier, so you can see how much bandwidth your website is using.
How Much Bandwidth Do You Need for Your Website?
Some parameters you should consider before you make your decision on a web hosting plan are webpage size, page views, and monthly visitors. If you want to know more, make sure that you read our article “How Much Disk Space and Bandwidth Do I Need for My Website.”
What If You Need More Bandwidth That Your Hosting Package Includes?
If you’re not satisfied with the features of your current hosting plan and you feel like you need more bandwidth, and if you’re not restricted by your budget, you can ask your hosting provider to upgrade your hosting plan for a plan with higher or unlimited allocated resources.
How to Optimize Bandwidth Usage?
When it comes to bandwidth optimization, you should consider doing the following things. First, you should make the flow of your data more streamlined. What this means is that you should ensure the most efficient path for data to move from one point to another.
The second thing you can do is optimize the data itself. This data optimization can be performed at various points in your network, with techniques such as load balancing and traffic shaping.
What Are the Ways to Reduce the Usage of Bandwidth?
Below we will tell you the ways to reduce the usage of bandwidth if you are struggling with high usage of bandwidth.
Malware scanning – Make sure there isn’t any abnormal usage of bandwidth, including usage caused by malware.
Identifying bandwidth hogs – Sometimes, the issue is caused by a certain user on your network that is taking over a bandwidth that can be used for other goals. Make sure you detect if one user or device is monopolizing bandwidth so you can take the proper steps to address this issue.
Setting access restrictions – Specific websites and files can bring down the bandwidth that is available on your network. Resources can be hogged by uncompressed and large files that are traveling along with the network. For this reason, these files should be allocated elsewhere. If these things are happening on your network, restrict the access to these websites and files that prevent bandwidth from being used up.
What Is Unlimited Bandwidth?
With unlimited bandwidth, you get more flexibility. For instance, if you plan to use 20 GB worth of bandwidth, but you exceed your estimate and use 25 or 30 GB, that won’t cause any issues. Even though you can use as much bandwidth as you see fit, there’s usually an upper limit about which you need to ask your hosting provider. Verpex offers a plan with unlimited bandwidth, so make sure you check them out.
Summary
Keeping all of what we said in mind, we hope that you make a well-information decision about how much bandwidth is appropriate for you. We want to mention plans with unlimited bandwidth again as one of the most efficient options. These plans can handle heavy spikes in traffic while still managing to be a cost-effective solution. As your site draws a bigger audience, these plans handle your need for scalability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need a lot of bandwidth?
There are many reasons for needing bandwidth, including the fact that your visitors can view more pages on your site, your site will have less chance of crashing, and your site can have more media elements.
What are the types of bandwidth plans?
The types of bandwidth plans you can choose are metered bandwidth, which has a strict limitation, and unmetered bandwidth, which offers a lot of flexibility.
How is bandwidth measured?
Usually, bandwidth is measured in Gbps or billions of bits per second.
Can I increase bandwidth?
Yes, most hosting providers allow you to increase your bandwidth with an increase in price.
