GJRG
03-14-2001, 12:56 PM
I've been looking around to find a suitable hosting company here in the UK for a dedicated server. One of the main uses of the site will be to allow users (about 1,500 of them) to download (fairly large - 10Mb) program updates. Bandwidth is therefore an important issue, and one problem I've encountered is that different hosting companies measure "bandwidth" in completely different ways.
Some companies measure it in terms of what I'd call "throughput" - e.g 20 Gb per month. These companies then say "you'll be connected to our network / the Internet via a 10Mb/s link" or even "a 100Mb/s link".
(As a variation of this, I've seen some offerings which mention "a 100MHz bursting connection" MegaHertz? How does this translate to Mb/s?)
Other companies measure it in terms of what one might call "speed". In other words, you're allowed unlimited monthly transfer, but at a fixed rate - e.g 128Kb/s, 256Kb/s etc. (These sometimes talk about being able to "burst up to 2 Mb/s".) I think this is sometimes called CIR - "committed information rate". One has even provided a handy translation - e.g 256 Kb/s CIR is equivalent to 80 Gb/month. I have no idea how they work this out, but I presume it assumes using all your bandwidth 24 hours/day, 31 days/month.
At first sight, it strikes me that the throughput method of measurement is more useful. My site will basically only be used during office hours, so there's no point paying for a CIR that's available 24 hours a day, when my users will only be doing downloads during an 8 hour period. Logically, if the web server really *is* connected to the Internet via a 10Mb/s connection, the users will get faster download speeds than if I'm with a hosting company who have fixed the speed at 256Kb/s.
On the other hand, if I *do* go with a company who use the throughput model, I'm worried that my connection speed may not actually be as high as quoted - e.g I may be getting 10Mb/s (or even 100Mb/s... or even 100MHz), but am I sharing this with scores of other users? At least if I go with a CIR scheme, I'm guaranteed the connection speed, right?
Any light than can be shed on this subject would be appreciated - a link to an existing resource would be good. I've found a few sites that deal with web hosting, but none of them appear to tackle this question.
TIA
Greg
Some companies measure it in terms of what I'd call "throughput" - e.g 20 Gb per month. These companies then say "you'll be connected to our network / the Internet via a 10Mb/s link" or even "a 100Mb/s link".
(As a variation of this, I've seen some offerings which mention "a 100MHz bursting connection" MegaHertz? How does this translate to Mb/s?)
Other companies measure it in terms of what one might call "speed". In other words, you're allowed unlimited monthly transfer, but at a fixed rate - e.g 128Kb/s, 256Kb/s etc. (These sometimes talk about being able to "burst up to 2 Mb/s".) I think this is sometimes called CIR - "committed information rate". One has even provided a handy translation - e.g 256 Kb/s CIR is equivalent to 80 Gb/month. I have no idea how they work this out, but I presume it assumes using all your bandwidth 24 hours/day, 31 days/month.
At first sight, it strikes me that the throughput method of measurement is more useful. My site will basically only be used during office hours, so there's no point paying for a CIR that's available 24 hours a day, when my users will only be doing downloads during an 8 hour period. Logically, if the web server really *is* connected to the Internet via a 10Mb/s connection, the users will get faster download speeds than if I'm with a hosting company who have fixed the speed at 256Kb/s.
On the other hand, if I *do* go with a company who use the throughput model, I'm worried that my connection speed may not actually be as high as quoted - e.g I may be getting 10Mb/s (or even 100Mb/s... or even 100MHz), but am I sharing this with scores of other users? At least if I go with a CIR scheme, I'm guaranteed the connection speed, right?
Any light than can be shed on this subject would be appreciated - a link to an existing resource would be good. I've found a few sites that deal with web hosting, but none of them appear to tackle this question.
TIA
Greg