<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Bandwidth-Needs.png" alt="Bandwidth Needs" width="246" height="205" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-9399" />When you’re launching a website, you may be wondering how much bandwidth your site is going to need. You’ll be evaluating various hosting providers in how they compare on different factors and it’s important to look at what the cost of covering the amount of bandwidth you require will be. 

While some hosting providers are going to offer unlimited options, it’s not usually legitimately unlimited because penalties are issued if you go over the normal usage. Here is a look at how to determine how much bandwidth your website is going to require to make good decisions on who to use for hosting. 

<h2>What is Bandwidth?</h2>

First you need to look at what exactly bandwidth is. It basically refers to “data transfer” and the term itself is used for quantifying the rate of data and traffic allowed between your site and users online. This measure of maximum data that can be transferred at one time will typically be measured in seconds. A data transfer refers to simply the amount of data that can be transferred compared to the rate of the data transfer which is what bandwidth means. 

While data transfer is like the measure of the amount of water flowing through a water pipe, the bandwidth would be like the width of that pipe. The width would determine how fast the data or water could flow. Once you understand this, you need to look at how much bandwidth a hosting company serves to determine if their bandwidth will be high enough, and how their speed, connectivity, network, and systems are based on this. 

<h2>Unlimited bandwidth</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Bandwidth.png" alt="Bandwidth" width="268" height="188" class="alignright size-full wp-image-9400" />If you choose an unlimited hosting company, you are actually purchasing a flat cost from the buyer that is what a general user would need with penalties that will come about when you go over the norm. Unlimited bandwidth would be impossible for a hosting company because it’s too expensive. Unlimited packages assume a user is going to fall within the normal range. You need to look at your own bandwidth required to determine if the unlimited packages can handle the amount you need. 

<h2>Determine amount of bandwidth you need</h2>

<img src="https://itxdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Your-Bandwidth-Needs.png" alt="Your Bandwidth Needs" width="276" height="182" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-9401" />You’ll need to take the time to determine how much bandwidth you need. You could think of it like a pair of pants; you can’t go too small but going a size too high may be a waste. Don’t purchase up either; find someone who can offer scalable options to get right on to the amount you need. You’ll need to estimate the average page size of your site in kilobytes, look at monthly average number of visitors to multiply with the average page size, and then take that number and multiply it by the average number of page views per visitor. 

Once you’ve figured this out, you can start shopping for a web host. Look for someone who would be a good fit, work with your site’s needs, and look at each of their plan’s bandwidth totals. 

Use these tips to determine your real bandwidth needs and choose the proper hosting providers for your website. 


