Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the measure of maximum data that can be transferred in a given time, usually measured in seconds. Data transfer, on the other hand, is the amount of data to be transferred; while bandwidth is the rate of the data transfer. You can imagine bandwidth as the width of a water pipe where data transfer is the amount of water flowing out from the pipe. How wide is the pipe width (bandwidth) determines how fast can water (data) flows. Fundamentally, data transfer is the consumption of bandwidth.

To site owners, the amount of bandwidth that a hosting company site offers can typically serve as a good indicator of that host’s capabilities – the higher the bandwidth, the better the speed; network; connectivity; and systems.

Every single file that makes up a Web page takes up space on your Web hosting server. Bandwidth is the amount of data exchanged or transferred in and out of your Web server, usually measured by a monthly allotment. Bandwidth increases when large files are requested and when your visitor traffic increases. If you find you don’t have enough disk space or bandwidth in your Web hosting plan to cope with user requests, you can first try to make your website more efficient before upgrading to a larger hosting plan.