| What does bandwidth refer to? |
| The term Bandwidth refers to how much data is sent from a web server to a web browser. For example, for Specialty Packages, we allow your web site and photo album on our servers to transfer 1GB (1,000MB) of data to your visitors' browsers each month. |
| Data includes all types of files viewed by visitors with their browsers and that helps files be viewed. For our web site and photo album example, this would include images, web pages, java applets, text, sounds, Flash movies, documents, and anything else a visitor might view or download from your web site and/or photo album folders on our servers. |
| Every file that makes up your web site and photo album has a specific filesize. Let's say you have a web page with a filesize of 12kb (HTML code and text). There are 3 images on that page, each with a filesize of 20kb (3x20kb = 60kb), and a midi sound file that plays automatically when your page is viewed that has a filesize of 28kb. That means a total of 100kb of data will transfer to a visitor's browser every time they view your page. |
| When that 100kb page is viewed 10 times by visitors, a total of 1,000kb (10x100kb = 1,000kb), or 1MB, of bandwidth is used. |
| What happens when I run out of available bandwidth? |
| Accounts are 'metered' and when your monthly bandwidth allotment has been exceeded, your pages are automatically turned off by the monitoring system. Your pages will be restored the next month with a fresh new bandwidth allotment for the month, unless you purchase additional bandwidth sooner in order to get your pages back online. Unfortunately, this is a necessary step to ensure that all site accounts run as fast and reliably as they can. |
| What can I do to make my bandwidth last longer? |
| The biggest culprit as far as bandwidth goes, are large image and music files, and files made available for download. Images with large filesizes (like images pulled from digital cameras and web-cams) use a lot of bandwidth to view with a browser. The average, un-optimized .jpg photo/image can be as large as 6MB. That means 6MB of bandwidth will be used for one visitor to view one photo, one time. You would very quickly run out of bandwidth for the month if you posted such large images on your site. And your visitors would be extremely frustrated by how long it takes to load the web page containing the photo. |
| You can quickly and easily resize your site's images to have the smallest filesize possible, without losing a lot of image quality. This is called "image optimization." You will need to optimize your images using a graphics optimization program. There are many such programs available. You can use the graphics program that came pre-installed on your computer, or a graphics editing program you purchased, like Paint Shop or PhotoShop. For instructions on how to optimize images using the free image editor, Irfanview, click here. |
| Do not offer downloads, or make sure the files you are making available are small. If you must provide a large file or several files, use a compression tool like WinZip to compress and shrink your files. Multiple files can be zipped into one small file, then unzipped for viewing. |
| How can I get more bandwidth? |
| Extra bandwidth can be purchased. To purchase additional bandwidth, submit a Support Ticket. It is a good idea purchase more bandwidth prior to needing it, because you do not want to run out after regular support hours when we will not be able to add it to your account right away. If you have concerns about the amount of bandwidth your account uses, please submit a support ticket requesting assistance. We will be more than happy to help you evaluate your needs or provide assistance in reducing the amount of bandwidth your site uses. |