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Bandwidth measures the volume of data transmitted over an internet connection. You need to know how much bandwidth you will need before choosing a hosting plan.

Be careful when someone claims they provide unlimited bandwidth or monthly transfer. Anyone claiming “Unlimited Bandwidth” is simply lying. There’s no such thing as “Unlimited Bandwidth”.

I’ve never seen any broadband company offering an internet connection as “Unlimited Megabytes per Second.” So, how could a web hosting company, which normally doesn’t even own its own access lines, specify to customers that it will give them “Unlimited Bandwidth”?

Most of the time, high bandwidth sites on these “Unlimited” plans will be disconnected, and no refund given. Normally, the web hosting company will say that the site violated its Acceptable Use Policy or Terms of Service.

Whenever you visit a site promoting “Unlimited Bandwidth” as one of the account features, be sure to visit the Acceptable Use Policy, or the Terms of Service. Read the fine print about the so-called “Unlimited” disclaimer.

When you first look for web hosting services (those who state clearly bandwidth offered), you have to make your best estimation and watch your usage carefully in the first few months. Take these factors into consideration while estimating.

• How many users will access your web site?
• How many pages to be accessed?
• How big are the graphic and HTML files?

Large audio/video files, computer programs, and file downloads require more bandwidth. Flash web sites use tons of bandwidth. Virtual Reality (VR) and full-length three-dimensional audio/visual presentations require the most bandwidth of all.

Your best guess may not be totally accurate, but still gives you something to work with until your site has been online for a while and actual traffic statistics have been generated.

Don’t fall for the unlimited bandwidth trap that some companies throw at you.

On Cool Net Host we review the top web hosting companies and rank them from 1 to 10. REad our reviews before purchasing any hosting package.

Web hosting comes in many forms. Whether you are looking for business web hosting for a corporate site or web hosting for a personal site there are numerous packages available. Likewise web hosting providers are plentiful and on the surface appear to offer similar deals. But what about under the surface? What is their support like? What is their server uptime like? What are their policies when your site exceeds the package parameters?

Prior to signing up with any web hosting company, it is important to understand what the aim of your website is and how much traffic you can expect, which ultimately leads to how much bandwidth you will use. Web hosting companies have packages to suit virtually every type of website.

To help make your decision I have put together a short summary of the different types of hosting:

Shared Web Hosting

Also known as a virtual hosting service, is a web hosting service where many websites occupy a single web server. The server is split into the various domain names so that they do not interfere with each other. This can be likened to separate partitions on your hard disk.

Free Web Hosting

As the name states, it is free. However, this type of hosting usually comes with built in advertisements and has limited functionality. This type of service is a good way of trialling website ideas or for small personal websites. Of course you can always upgrade when the need arises.

Clustered Web Hosting

This consist of multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization. It is a perfect solution for high availability dedicated hosting, or creating an ascendable web hosting solution.

Reseller Web Hosting

This is an excellent option if you have lots of websites as you can host them on one account. This service also allows the user to become web hosts themselves, hosting websites for their friends or family or even clients. It is considered an inexpensive way for web hosting entrepreneurs to start a company.

Virtual Dedicated Server

Also known as virtual private server, bridges the gap between shared web hosting services and dedicated hosting services, giving independence from other customers of the service in terms of software and at less cost than a physical dedicated server.

Dedicated Hosting Service

This is a hosting service that provides the user with their own server. These can be hired on a monthly basis, no long contracts, solely for the use of the client only. However, the client is also responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated server.

Grid Hosting

Is a distributed form of hosting that offers online computation or storage as a metered commercial service. Basically pay as you go.

Home Server

Typically a PC or other computer, connected to a home network that provides services to other household devices such as file and/or printer serving, media center serving, web serving, account authentication, and domain control. You can also use it as a server on the internet, but you will need to purchase a leased line from your telephone or cable company to cope with the demands of a high traffic site.

These are the various types of hosting available to anyone looking to put up a website. Unless you are a huge corporation, start small and upgrade as your site(s) requires it.

On Cool Net Host, I review many web hosting companies and rank the best from 1 to 10. If you’re looking for a new web host, pay a visit now before parting with your hard earned cash.