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  1. #1

    bandwidth vs. data transfer ?

    what is the difference between bandwidth and data transfer ?
    I thought they meant the same thing but I came acorss a reseller package that offered one amt for bandwidth and a different amt for data transfer. And they weren't talking about disk space because they had that listed also.

  2. #2
    bandwidth is web transfer?

    data transfer is ftp & email?

    i have no clue but thats what it could mean. Most hosts outline this in thier TOS or AUP. Does that host have one?

  3. #3
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    Bandwidth is the connection, eg 512Kbps, 1Mbps.

    Data transfer is the data transferred, eg if 1Mbps was maxed out, 320GB of data would be transferred.

    Both are commonly used to describe the same thing, although technically this isn't right.
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  4. #4
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    The best analogy to explain this will be water flowing in a pipe.

    The pipe is your connectivity (OC3, OC12, etc). The bigger the pipe, the bigger the amount of water you can push.

    The rate of water flowing at any given time is similar to bandwith. So at one time you can get a water flowing at a rate of 200 gallons/second and some other time you can get another flow rate of 100 gallons/second. The actual amount of water flow through that pipe is similar to data transfer (some xxx gallons in one particular day, no matter what the rate of flows is). Now, somebody can have a setting such that the water flow in a pipe will not exceed 100 gallons/second, this is what a capped bandwith is.

    Data transfer and bandwith can be different especially if the host is being charged by 95th percentile. For example, if there is a hypotetical site that's doing 1mbps of transfer for 75 minutes a day and zero transfer for the rest of the day, then the amount of actual data transfer for that given month would be roughly 16GB or so but the 95th percentile (with 5 minute interval) charge for that host will be 1Mbps or roughly 320GB. This is the reason why people hate 95th percentile rule to measure bandwith usage.

    Regards,
    -dave

    [edit]
    error in my calculation
    [/edit]
    Last edited by FHDave; 07-09-2002 at 02:37 PM.
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  5. #5
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    95th percentile -- i am confused ?

    maybe another explaination please ..


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  6. #6
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    95th percentile has always raised a question to most people. I will try to explain it the best of my knowledge:

    To measure bandwith, one can use MRTG to measure the data transfer rate for an interval of every 5 minutes (it can be 30 minutes or 2 hours interval, but I just choose 5 minutes for this explanation). So for example, during the first 5 minutes, the server push 100MB of data, MRTG will record this as xxx kbps of bandwith transfer rate for that 5 minutes interval. Now there are 8640 samples of these 5 minutes intervals for a 30-day month. The way 95th percentile works is it will sort all of these 8640 samples, from smallest to the highest and then cut the top 5% of these 8640 samples (or the top 432 sampels). The next number (the 8207 th sample) will be your 95th percentile measurement of your bandwith usage.

    The MRTG of course will measure not only incoming but ougoing transfer so there are actually 8640 samples of incoming transfer rate and another 8640 samples of outgoing transfer rate. By applying the above rule, you can get 95th percentile measurement of your incoming and outgoing bandwith. But then you will only be charged by the biggest of the two, either incoming or outgoing. This is the reason why if you can maximize your ration between incoming and ougoing bandwith, 95th percentile can be very cheap. Note with actual data transfer or average bandwith measurment, you will always be charged the sum of your incoming and bandwith transfer.

    regards,
    -dave
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  7. #7
    Now you guys are REALLY getting me confused!

    Going back to the water example, are you saying:

    The city's water plant can pump 300 gallons of water a minute (bandwidth)

    But if I turned all my facets full blast the most water I could personally take in is 2 gallons of water per minute (data transfer)


  8. #8
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  9. #9
    I am surprised most host here don't use HostHelp.com

    Here is a good article there on bandwidth.

    http://hosthelp.com/hostfactsbw.php
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  10. #10
    Originally posted by freew
    Now you guys are REALLY getting me confused!

    Going back to the water example, are you saying:

    The city's water plant can pump 300 gallons of water a minute (bandwidth)

    But if I turned all my facets full blast the most water I could personally take in is 2 gallons of water per minute (data transfer)

    No, data transfer is the amount you take.

    You can get 2 gallons per min. So in 24 hous the most warter you can get is 2880 gallons.

    2 gallons /min X 60 min hour = 120 gallons
    120 gallons X 24 hours = 2880 gallons

    Say you go and get only 1000 gallans, you had 1000 gallons of water transfer. Does this help.

    Dang, I'm thirsty as well.
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  11. #11
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    Originally posted by freew

    But if I turned all my facets full blast the most water I could personally take in is 2 gallons of water per minute (data transfer)

    No, think of it this way. If you openned all faucets you will get 2 gallons a minute; this would be your bandwidth (your capacity). Your transfer, is the utilised portion of that capacity. You can use 5 gallons a day and your monthly usage would have been 150 gallons for the whole month. However if you use the whole capacity, you would use over 80,000 gallons per month.

  12. #12
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    Yeah, but how much is that in quarts? And, is that bandwidth pure, from a mountain stream?

    Seriously, we use the term "bandwidth" as opposed to "data transfer" because we see that as the amount that is alotted to the user. We were having people ask us, "Is email included in the data transfer? How about ftp? Is that only http?" etc.

    Example: If you have a 5 gallon bucket of water alotted to you, you can have 5 gallons of water to drink. This is the same as bandwidth alotted to you. If you have 5 Gig of bandwidth alotted to you, you have 5 Gig to use.

    If you drink 5 gallons of water, you have transferred 5 gallons of water from the bucket into your body. If 5 Gig of data is passed to-or-from your account, you have simply transferred 5 Gig of data.

    Sheesh! That's the stupidest example I ever used in my life!

    -Lamar
    Going out of business in our 10th year.

  13. #13
    Originally posted by Perfecthost

    Example: If you have a 5 gallon bucket of water alotted to you, you can have 5 gallons of water to drink. This is the same as bandwidth alotted to you. If you have 5 Gig of bandwidth alotted to you, you have 5 Gig to use.

    That is not true. Say you have a 1 gallon per second straw in that (the connection) your bandwidth is only 1 gallon, no more.

    In 5 seconds you have your 5 gallons.

    The Data Transfer allowed is 5 gallons that is not the bandwidth.

    I know this is not the best example.

    I have a T1 in my office, so my bandwith is only 1.5 meg per second, that is the most I can transfer at any one second.
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  14. #14
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    Originally posted by ljprevo


    That is not true. Say you have a 1 gallon per second straw in that (the connection) your bandwidth is only 1 gallon, no more.

    In 5 seconds you have your 5 gallons.

    The Data Transfer allowed is 5 gallons that is not the bandwidth.

    I know this is not the best example.

    I have a T1 in my office, so my bandwith is only 1.5 meg per second, that is the most I can transfer at any one second.
    I think we are thinking the same thing, but saying it differently.(See 3 paragraphs below.)

    Suppose you had a 5 gallon per month straw, then your limit would be 5 gallon in a month. In a month's time, you could drink your limit of 5 gallons. If you decide not to drink but 3 gallons, that does not mean you have reached your limit, but have had 3 gallons of data transfer. Your data transfer rate will still be 5 gallons/month.

    If the bandwidth usage limit is 5 Gig in a month's time, we say you have a 5G/month limit. And this is where I think the problem lies.

    Bandwidth and data transfer rate can be used synonymously. Most, in the hosting industry, shorten the phrase (although in error, as Matt pointed out) "data transfer rate" to "data transfer". I've even seen some shorten it to simply "data". Indeed, those are not the same, as one is a rate and the other is a finite amount. However, this is not the way the majority of the industry presents it to their clients. They are still looking at data transfer as a rate. So, speaking in terms that are (admittedly in error) keeping with most companies' usage, they can be used as the same phrase. Clear as muddy water.

    However, just because it is used in that way, does not make it correct.

    -Lamar
    Last edited by Perfecthost; 07-09-2002 at 08:18 PM.
    Going out of business in our 10th year.

  15. #15
    So if a host says you get 400mb transfer a month but 10 gb of bandwidth a month what the heck are they saying?

    Am I really only getting 400mb a month - and the 10gb is what is available to everyone on the server... therefore despite what they say you are only getting 400mb?

  16. #16
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    Originally posted by freew
    So if a host says you get 400mb transfer a month but 10 gb of bandwidth a month what the heck are they saying?
    Perharps the host does not even know what he is talking. I have seen (especially lately) many host without even the basic knowledge of this hosting world popup anywhere here in WHT

    Am I really only getting 400mb a month - and the 10gb is what is available to everyone on the server... therefore despite what they say you are only getting 400mb?
    Perharps you can directly ask the host about this since I don't know what the above sentence mean. I think the host itself is just completely clueless about this matter.
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  17. #17
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    Could you possibly post a link. My curiosity is killing me, now.

    -Lamar
    Going out of business in our 10th year.

  18. #18
    Here it is:
    http://akhost.net/plans.htm

    I emailed then a few hours ago asking about it but have not yet got an answer

  19. #19
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    I see unlimited bandwidth and unlimited storage all over the place.

    -Lamar
    Going out of business in our 10th year.

  20. #20
    If the bandwidth is unlimited, why is the transfer limited?

    This make no sense at all.
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