What is Bandwidth
It's perhaps the most popular web hosting term. It represents the amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time.
Let us explain with a simple example what bandwidth is. Imagine water running through pipes. A specific amount of water needs to be delivered through a pipe from one place to another. If the pipe water is running through is a narrow one, it will take more time to deliver water through than if the pipe is a big one. We can say that the second pipe is "wider" than the first pipe. Or, we could take another step and say that the big pipe allows more bandwidth than the narrow pipe. And ultimately bandwidth describes how much stuff can pass through the pipe at a time or how much data can be transmitted over a certain connection line in a fixed period of time.
Bandwidth rate is usually measured in bits per second (bps) and is often expressed in units of thousands(K) or millions(M). For example:
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1 Kbps = 1 000 bps
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1 Mbps = 1 000 000 bps
Browsing the web, sending e-mail and downloading a file occasionally doesn't consume much bandwidth. Downloading or uploading video or huge audio files will use much more of it. At the moment 2-3% of internet users consume about 90% of the overall available bandwidth. For this reason other users may experience setbacks in performance and slowdowns.
Bandwidth is all about the type of the connection and the amount of data specific connection type allows to be transfered in a specific period of time.
Types of Connections
Types of Bandwidth
Bandwidth as Related to Web Hosting and Bandwidth Videos