Bandwidth, also called data transfer, is the amount of information transferred to or from a website or server given a prescribed period of time. It is usually measured in bytes (megabytes, gigabytes, etc.). Monthly bandwidth is the amount of data that is accessed on your website each time a visitor visits your website. Each time a visitor views a page, the size of the page is added to the monthly bandwidth.
Unlike Disk Usage referring to Storage Space, which can easily be controlled by deleting unused content as needed, bandwidth requires flexibility and subtle calculations. You don’t want to pay overages for more than you need, but you also don’t want to turn customers away or deal with the sometimes significant penalties for going over your allotted amount.
In this article, you will learn:
Real-world factors that affect bandwidth
Bandwidth by the Numbers
If you’re launching your PinnacleCart for your business, estimating your bandwidth is something you will never be certain of. Keeping track of your site’s activity for the first few months after it goes live is absolutely the best approach. You can begin to discern your actual monthly bandwidth usage and upgrade your plan if necessary.
Unlike huge corporate sites, calculating your estimated bandwidth is not entirely difficult, but you’ll need to consider real-world factors, that include but not limited to site visits, web crawler behavior and etc. You may even try simple calculations just to get a basic idea of how much bandwidth your cart might be using.
Real-world factors that affect bandwidth
Several factors can affect the bandwidth that your site consumes. These are the following:
- Layout Changes: If you change your site’s layout, you are likely to increase the size of your page and use more bandwidth.
- Traffic Growth: With any luck, traffic to your site will grow.
- Site Scans: Scans that are done by Web Crawlers (Google Bots), Web Spiders (SEO), by Security firms, etc.,
Room for Growth
Most business Carts/website hosted by PinnacleCart does not take up too much bandwidth. If you don’t host large image files or downloadable products, one can get by with just 2 GB per month or less.
But of course, if you don't want to keep changing plans or paying overages every time your data shifts, you need to plan for the future and give room for cart growth.
Room to Grow: As you add more products, categories, and product images, the number of page-views will gradually increase.
Though typically a Cart will never use more than a fraction of it's allotted bandwidth, you’ll be spared overage bills from even the heaviest traffic. Plus, since extra bandwidth is extremely affordable when built into a service plan (PinnacleCart's Standard Plan is way cheaper than paying overages or the cost of your site going down during peak hours), it’s well worth the price.
By acquiring extra bandwidth (getting at least the Standard Plan), you’re not just future-proofing your cart, but also having the peace of mind from knowing your business site is well prepared for whatever comes.
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