I've added a page to my site about bandwidth and related issues. It includes comments and things learned from others more knowledgeable about certain aspects of it. It is already on the menu, and can be seen directly at http://techcellence.net/bandwidth.htm

If anyone can think of any additional aspects that should be covered, any that could be better explained, or even any errors, please let me know.

Great work Duster. Very informative.

The only thing you might like to add (and it's very small) is the breakdown of MBs and GBs (i.e. 1 Gig = 1024 MB) to adjust for any particular 'discrepancy' that people who aren't necessarily familiar with terminology may find.

Nice work, Duster. Very clearly explained.

Thanks. I just added an explanation of terms, as per BC's suggestion.

Nice page Duster.....i use 1767580 KBytes a day on my site going buy your page thats almsot 2GB a day i think? lol What do you think about the host that say unlimited bandwidth i know it's not true but i've came across a few dedicated servers that say the same thing.

This place gets more informative by the day. I love this place! Great work duster! ;)

As far as unlimited bandwidth goes, I have detailed information about it and cpu usage. The short story is that there is no such thing and any host that claims it is lying. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. Unlimited bandwidth is a lie.

Occasionally I pretend to be shopping for a host and send out an email to companies that make suspicious claims. I get a kick out of some of their responses.

Recently, I visited the site of one of the better-known outfits that offered "unlimited bandwidth" on a $20 hosting account. I asked them if my site moved 100gb/mo would I still be charged only the $20. Their response:
First of all you got to think about bandwidth like an "all you can eat" buffet. Sure it is all you can eat, but there is only so mych food. We honestly don't care how much traffic you push. The thing we monitor is the CPU and RAM being used up by the site. There is also a direct corelation between traffic and CPU and RAM usuage.

Then came a pitch for a dedicated server.

If there's a "direct correlation" between the amount of traffic and CPU/RAM usage, then in the end they do care how much bandwidth is used. It's a circular argument which is just a form of lying.

However, the "all you can eat buffet" analogy is true. Except you have to pay extra for each plate, fork, napkin, chair and table you use. Not to mention the "dishwasher fee". :-)

Woo Hoo Duster,
Great job!
If possible, can you add a form and a cgi to convert KB to MB to GB and vice versa? It will be very useful for people. Also, a cost calculator if possible.

TheWingThing.

Converting kb to mb and gb is easy. Just move the decimal point. The main thing is to determine if the host is using 1024 bytes or 1000 for a kilobyte. After that, all you have to do is move the decimal point over.

1,000,000 kb = 1000 mb = 1 gb

Rates vary from one host to another and they tell you what the charges are for additional bandwidth.

ROFLMAO @ Alchiba!

Too true, too true. It's quite amusing some of the responses you'll get from certain unlimited bandwidth hosts... I've had some very funny ones too, but none worth repeating in this forum beyond what's already been said.

Alchiba, here's another spin on the 'all you can eat' analogy -

The point where your stomach bursts and you're taken to hospital for overeating = the point where your hosting provider shuts you down for overusing their CPU/bandwidth.

Both have long-lasting undesirable outcomes and effects :D

That was a great article. I agree with the last post about Unlimited Bandwidth Companies however I must say their is dffereence between unlimited and unmetered.

For example with our company (Not Advertising),
Say our connection provider provided us with 500 GB per month.

We in turn would offer our clients UNMetered bandwidth. We would not monitor thier use however monitor our total bandwidth use as a whole. If we find ourselves going over our limit set by our providers we could simple order more.

So in essence, there can be a since of unlimited bandwidth to our clients since most of them will use less then 1 GB per day anyway. But for a better term and the most accurate we use Unmetered. Since we don't monitor them specifically but our use as a whole.


Thanks

Great article but I am a bit confused about the 95% rule.

Say some ones server used 2Mbit/s for 6% of the month and 0Mbit/s for the rest of the month. As I understand the rule it would knock off the top 5% of ussage and then take the highest bit/s and work that out for the month. So the person would have to pay as if they had used 2Mbit/s for the whole month! That doesn't seem very fair to me.

Below are possible figures

2592000 seconds/month
Payed for via 95% rule 648GB
Actual bytes transfered 38GB

I must have missed somthing as this doesn't seem very fair, you use nearly 40GB and pay for 648GB!

I'd suggest you read it again as you have missed some key points. You might pay particular attention to the advantages and disadvantages of each system of measurement.

It's not a matter of fairness, but the ability to grow. In simple terms, you can contain costs or you can contain bandwidth.

The calculation of usage is made by programs and can be quite detailed since the measurements are taken every few minutes. Some companies that use this method offer programs that will calculate it for their customers, so the customer can see for themselves.

Some companies offer more than one method, although the 95%ile method is the way many of them are charged by their bandwidth suppliers.

For simple discussion, the 95%ile method is not the highest usage, but the highest sustained usage. It's not entirely accurate, although it's close enough for conversational purposes and to describe how it works. Note the chart of an actual server on that page and that the highest peak was greater than the amount charged for.