Most people starting a new website believe the bandwidth myth. When measuring the volume of transmitted data over internet connections, bandwidth is all-important. It is a major consideration when choosing hosting plans as you will need to know your bandwidth requirement for optimum performance and service.

Some providers claim they can give you ‘unlimited bandwidth’ but this is a fallacy as the ‘unlimited’ description is specious because ‘unlimited’ does not exist. Buyer beware! These are lies.

Have you ever seen a broadband company offer internet connectivity as ‘Unlimited Megabytes per Second’? Probably not, I hear you reply. How then, can web hosting companies that don’t own their own access lines put out a claim to a customer that they can offer them ‘Unlimited Bandwidth’? Semantics are dangerous and it’s in the fine print that you discover the limitations of the words and phrases in our language that make up everyday expressions that we take for granted as interchangeable.

Too often, high bandwidth sites with “Unlimited” plans get disconnected with no refund given. The standard spiel from web hosting companies states the site violated the ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ or its ‘Terms of Service’.

On visiting a site promoting as one of its account features ‘Unlimited Bandwidth’ be sure to check out their ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ as well as ‘Terms of Service’ (they might not be the same thing – semantics!). Read closely the fine text regarding its so-called ‘Unlimited’ disclaimer.

During your initial look at web hosting services (from the good guys who state clearly the bandwidth offered), make a best estimation and carefully watch your usage over the initial months. Factors to consider in estimation:

• Number of users accessing your web site?

• Number of pages to be accessed?

• Size of HTML and graphic files?

The larger the audio/video files or computer programs or file downloads the more bandwidth required. Using Flash web sites will require tons of bandwidth. Anything Virtual Reality (VR) or full-length 3-D audio/visual presentations will require the greatest amount of bandwidth of all. Take these into consideration, even though they are notional estimates only, as something to base your bandwidth requirements on. Once your web site has been operating for a while you can make a more accurate assessment based on the actual traffic statistics generated and buy into a monthly service that meets your needs.

There are a few web hosting companies that truly offer unlimited bandwidth, so don’t be suckered into believing the bandwidth myth so be sure to read the fine print.