Test your bandwidth upload, download speed

In computer networks, bandwidth is often used as a synonym for data transfer rate - the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second). This kind of bandwidth is usually expressed in bits (of data) per second (bps).

Friday, May 18, 2007

Bandwidth Bandits

Files that are loaded to or from servers uses internet bandwidth to push files along the network at various speeds. Every time you upload a file to your ISP, surf the web or use an audio application, you are using bandwidth.

Bandwidth is a bunch of wires or fibers connecting servers to a network. Depending on the grade of the wire it determines how much data is coming across the network where your web-site is hosted. When someone attempts to get more data than can be handled by the network, the whole network slows down.

ISP’s can put a limitation on bandwidth at certain times during peak periods or charge you a flat fee per month for bandwidth usage. If you go over the flat fee, then they charge you extra for using extra bandwidth. Some ISP’s will shut down the transmissions until traffic is more stable on the network.

You can load most files (images, sound files, videos and flash scripts and other programs) in your web site. This excludes, of course, banners and pop ups and specific documents and images which are supposed to be loaded from a central server.

Bandwidth bandits link to images and other files directly to some other server instead of putting them on their local server. There are various reasons as to why they do this but one reason is to get as much bandwidth as possible to show their links and images. So they “steal” images or audio files each time the site is initialized meaning that they steal the bandwidth.

There’s certain ways that you can stop the person from stealing your bandwidth allocation. If they have an email, I would contact them personally or go through Network Solutions and do an IP lookup which will give you information on the person and who the site is registered to. You can always get in touch with the company that hosts their site too.

Bandwidth can be expensive and the last thing that you want is someone stealing it.

Source: Free Online Articles from ArticlesBase.com
About the Author:

John Ugoshowa. You are welcome to use this article on your website or
in your ezines
as long as you have a link back to http://www.quickregister.net/partners/
For more information on web hosting see the web hosting section of Quickregister.net Free Search Engine Submission Service
at: http://www.quickregister.net/partners/

Do you Need a Lot of Bandwidth?

Bandwidth measures the volume of data transmitted over an internet connection. You have to know how much bandwidth you need while choosing hosting plans.

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, claims 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 text 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 access?

**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.

Though it is not 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.

Source: Free Online Articles from ArticlesBase.com
About the Author:

John Ugoshowa. You are welcome to use this article on your website or
in your ezines
as long as you have a link back to http://www.quickregister.net/partners/
For more information on web hosting see the web hosting section of Quickregister.net Free Search Engine Submission Service
at: http://www.quickregister.net/partners/

Ziksa Introduces the Bandwidth Multiplier - Double your Broadband Double your Fun

Ziksa Digital Services and company based in Bangalore, India introduces the Bandwidth Multiplier which makes T1 speeds and beyond available to anyone who can afford it - even if the broadband offerings are limited in speed. These routers have the ability to "join" two broadband links - xDSL, Cable modem, Fixed Wireless, you name it - into a single seamless "big data pipe" shared by all the machines in your LAN. The devices don't even have to be of the same type, as any pair of broadband connections with Ethernet (RJ45) connectivity can be used, and even mixed for additional safety against service outages from a particular (Telco or Cable) infrastructure.

While you won't be able to use the combined bandwidth with a single file download, any applications using multiple simultaneous connections will. The scenarios are many; you can use the combined bandwidth even if you have only one PC behind the router doing multiple downloads -when downloading a web page with graphics for example, when you use a "download accelerator", when you manually start downloading multiple files at once, or when you use a peer-to-peer file sharing program.

For small businesses and others who want Internet access redundancy and improved speed, this is the perfect product.

For more information on the product please visit http://www.ziksa.com or email Sree Kumar (sree@ziksa.com).


Source: Free Online Articles from ArticlesBase.com
About the Author:

Sree Kumar is the CEO of Ziksa Digital Services Pvt. Ltd. Ziksa is an innovator of out-of-the-box network solutions that address the needs of small to medium enterprises; broadband and IT service providers; and SOHO as well residential customers worldwide.

Secure Your Own Bandwith with a Dedicated Server

If you are serious about your online business endeavors, you might just consider looking for an online dedicated server. The dedicated server is actually an entire server which is at your disposal, and which is not shared with anybody else.

Right from the start, the advantages are clear: you, as the webmaster, have full control over the server, including option of operating system, hardware, etc. You can customize everything according to your own personal needs, while the administration is still handled by the hosting company.

The most important advantage of using an online dedicated server is that your website performance will not be affected by the traffic of the other websites with which you would have been sharing your server's bandwidth.

The online dedicated server environment provides an exclusive server or servers devoted to the sole purpose of serving yourself only. You do not share hard disk space with other customers, and you avoid shared hosting.

Before dedicated servers existed, a web site developer used to have two hosting options, the low-priced shared hosting model and the premium-priced dedicated server. A person who bought space on a shared host would get a certain amount of disk space and monthly transfer, and would have the web site served from a common web server.

The hosting company would attempt to provide a wide range of options for the web site developer, in order to increase the popularity of their products. But, for example, if a customer needed a non-standard program installed or maybe wanted to use a privileged account in order for a particular utility to run, he would be completely not allowed to achieve these goals.

A simple example might be a site which required a database to store the information in. Many hosting companies provide the standard MySQL database to use on their servers. If your application requires another type of database though, then it could prove to be incompatible with the shared hosting account.

And a dedicated server can be customized anyway you want. But, there's also a catch. Because it can handle much more traffic than a shared hosting account, their much better performance doesn't come cheap. A typical dedicated server can cost the savvy webmaster hundreds of dollars per month depending on its size, network connectivity and the amount of management required from the hosting company.

Webmasters who don't fit into the standard shared hosting model and find that it doesn't work anymore for them, or whose sites grew very popular and required a large amount of resources have the alternative of a dedicated server. It can be customized to exactly fit the needs of you as a site developer. And as long as your business is very successful, you are probably way better with a dedicated server at your disposal.

Source: Free Online Articles from ArticlesBase.com
About the Author:

Select the ideal dedicated server for your needsDedicated servers. http://www.dedicatedserverhost1.com Save with a comprehensive web hosting package Web hosting packages. http://www.webhostingpackagedeal.com

Why You Should Consider High Speed Internet Access

According to Webster's dictionary, broadband (high speed internet access) is defined as of, relating to, or being a communications network in which a frequency range is divided into multiple independent channels for simultaneous transmission of signals (as voice, data, or video).

A major advantage of broadband or high speed internet access that it is "always on." In addition, choosing broadband internet service will allow you to explore the full potential of the web. It will give you access to a whole new world of entertainment of rich media content such as film, music and interactive presentations.

Moreover, high speed internet access allows faster download times than a standard dial up connection, which can take hours to download large files such as software updates or music files. With broadband internet service, you can download large files, movies, software updates, music and films in a matter of minutes, if not seconds!

Furthermore, high speed internet access does not have to be expensive, either. With broadband, you are able to sign up for a set monthly subscription. You can use your broadband connection as much as you want, day or night, without having to worry about additional call charges and unexpectedly large phone bills.

There are several types of high speed internet access: satellite DSL, VoIP, satellite internet, T1, DS-3 and Frame Relay. Below describes and defines each type of broadband service.

What is Satellite DSL?

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology that delivers high bandwidth information to homes and businesses over ordinary copper telephone lines. DSL refers to different variations of DSL, such as ADSL, HDSL and RADSL. A DSL line can carry both data and voice signals and the data part of the line is continously connected.

What is VoIP?

VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is a term used in IP telephony for a set of facilities for managing the delivery of voice information using the Internet Protocol. Basically, VoIP entails sending voice information in digital form in discrete packets rather than the usual protocols of the telephone network. A major advantage of VoIP is that it allows the user to avoid toll charges issued by telephone companies.

What is Satellite Internet?

Satellite internet is an arrangement in which the outgoing and incoming data are sent from, and arrive at, a computer through a satellite. Each subscriber's hardware includes a satellite dish antenna and a transceiver that operates in the microwave portion of the radio spectrum.

What is T1?

T1 (T-1) sometimes referred to as DS1 lines, is a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of 1.544 megabits per second (Mbps). A T-1 line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each supporting 64Kbits per second. Each 64Kbit / second channel can be configured to carry voice or data traffic. Most telephone companies will allow you to buy some individual channels, known as fractional T-1 access. Most small to mid-sized colleges and businesses have T-1 lines for internet connections.

What is DS-3?

DS-3, sometimes referred to as T-3 lines, is a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of about 43 Mbps. A T-3 line actually consists of 672 individual channels, each supporting 64 Kbps. T-3 lines are used mainly by Internet Service Providers (ISP) connecting to the internet backbone and for the backbone itself. Cognigen Dedicated is a provider of DS-3 (T-3) access.

What is Frame Relay?

Frame Relay is a packet-switching protocol for connecting devices on a Wide Area Network (WAN). Frame Relay networks in the U.S.A. support data transfer rates at T-1 (1.544 Mbps) and T-3 (45 Mbps) speeds. Frame Relay can be thought of as a way of utilizing existing T-1 and T-3 lines owned by a service provider. Most telephone companies now provide Frame Relay service for users who want connections at 56 Kbps to T-1 speeds. Cognigen Dedicated is a provider of Frame Relay.

Source: Free Online Articles from ArticlesBase.com
About the Author:

Reginald Sharp is a writer and the webmaster of Broadband Internet Services.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Beeline Bandwidth Test

Considerations

  • A faster computer processes a download more quickly than a slower machine.
  • Heavy traffic on the internet or on your LAN may slowdown your throughput speed.
  • Results may be affected if you are performing intensive CPU work at the time of your speed test.
  • There's a limit of 20 free tests a day.
http://www.beelinebandwidthtest.com/

MySpeed Bandwidth Test

MySpeed Server bandwidth test accurately measures DSL, ADSL, cable, satellite and other broadband connections by timing actual data transfers.

http://myspeed.visualware.com/

Speedtest

Speedtest.net is a free broadband speed test with servers located all over the world. Compare your results with others and easily share them.

http://www.speedtest.net/

Download Bandwidth Test

This test measures the time it takes to download a block of data. The JavaScript in the page reads the clock time just before and just after the block of data has been downloaded.

http://pcpitstop.com/internet/bandwidth.asp

SpeedEasy

Take the Speakeasy Speed Test and test your connection speed! By measuring the download and upload rate from the following locations you are able to accurately judge your current line throughput or internet connection speed. To take the speed test, choose the server nearest you.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Bandwidth Meter speed test

The CNET Bandwidth Meter speed test will check the bandwidth of your Internet connection against top DSL, cable modem, and other broadband services. The bandwidth test is as easy as 1, 2, 3."

What this test does
When you click Go, a file is downloaded from our servers that will calculate your bandwidth speed from the CNET Internet Services site. Your bandwidth speed may be affected by the following factors: being located outside of the United States, performing other downloads and this test simultaneously, or executing programs that use your bandwidth to monitor other resources. The CNET Bandwidth Meter speed test does not currently list Internet access services outside of the United States. Therefore, area codes are optional for international users.

http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Reliable Web Hosting

Author: Reg Cooper

Reliable web hosting services by Arachno Net offers cheap & affordable web hosting services including Linux based web servers. Arachno Net also provides dedicated virtual server hosting, Linux reseller hosting & low cost dedicated servers to provide effective hosting service

What you expect from your web host? Affordability, cheap and reliable web hosting. These are three prime pillars on which any web hosting stands. In any online business, web hosting is something which plays an important role and also provides the platform for your business. Your Website is your identity on internet, which not only creates your brand image but ensures that you are an authentic seller. Thus, it is wise to select the host that is experienced, and also provides you with reliable technical infrastructure.

Arachno Net is one of the leading companies, offering the best and reliable web hosting for your business, so that it will not only prosper but also yield maximum benefits. Having years of hosting experience, Arachno Net makes sure that it provides reliable web hosting so that your website is never down and always running with high level performance. Arachno Net provides reliable web hosting with superior hardware and excellent infrastructure. Thus, it becomes obvious for you to hire a web host, having a proven track record of unparalleled tech support, while providing cheap and reliable web hosting.

Arachno Net also provides Linux based servers for hosting, which are not only affordable but also reliable. Moreover, it also employs multiple, high-speed fiber connections to reduce downtime. Arachno Net has been in business for a very long time and provides quality cheap web hosting services. It supports thousands of domain names worldwide. According to the technical experts, web terrain is very rugged and to protect your domain name and your web site, Arachno Net makes sure that it is well guarded.

To provide safe and reliable web hosting, Arachno Net’s web hosting servers are protected from DDoS attacks and above all its web hosting data center is well beyond the industry's standard for safety and incursion protection. Thus, it excels in providing quality and reliable web hosting. If you are a start up business and looking for a reliable web hosting, then Arachno Net is there for you and at an affordable price. Hence, this is the time to give your business a new and reliable platform so that it never shakes.

Therefore for more information on reliable web hosting, cheap web hosting package, affordable web hosting services, best web hosting, low cost web hosting services, hosting service and Linux dedicated web hosting please visit www.arachnonet.com.

About Author
Reg is a well known author who writes for http://www.arachnonet.com , about evolving trends and practices in web hosting technologies.

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com

How To Determine How Much Space And Bandwidth You Need For Your Website

by John Lenaghan

You'll need to look at the content that you'll be hosting on your site. Is it just plain text? Images? Audio and video files?

Plain text takes the least amount of space. Images take considerably more and audio and video files will need the most space. This applies to both the storage and the bandwidth.

Many web hosts offer what seems like a huge amount of storage space, assuming that you'll never use it. If everyone hosting websites on their server were to use the maximum space allowed, the servers would likely not be able to handle it.

You'll see a range of storage and bandwidth being offered. One host might be offering 1 gigabyte of storage while another could offer 500 megabytes at the same price. The quality of service is a key factor in choosing a web host, so don't just look for the one with the biggest offer.

The rule of thumb in the hosting industry is that 2MB of storage is enough to host 10 web pages and 4 or 5 images. Using this as a guideline, you can determine how much space you'll need to host your site.

You can calculate your bandwidth requirements in a similar way. Make sure you understand the difference between bandwidth and data transfer, however.

In non-technical terms, bandwidth is the diameter of a water pipe and data transfer is the amount of water that flows through it. If you're likely to have a lot of data being transferred, you should look for high bandwidth plans.

If you choose a plan with high data transfer but low bandwidth, your site can slow to a crawl when it gets too many visitors. The amount of information you're allowed to transfer is high enough, but the pipe it's flowing through doesn't allow enough to get through at once to keep up with all the requests.

The best way to manage your bandwidth and space is to keep your site as simple as possible. Don't use large images - optimize them for viewing on the web which will decrease their size considerably.

If you're not sure how to determine your needs, the better web hosting companies will be able to help you figure out which of their plans will best suit your website.

John Lenaghan writes about small business web hosting and other website hosting topics on the Hosting Report website. Find out more at http://www.hostingreport.org

Source: http://articles.sakshay.in/Article/15515.html

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

How to Choose a Web Host

Once you decide that you need web page either for your business, non-profit organization or simply a fun personal page, you then have the Herculean task of choosing a web host. Hopefully, the host you choose will be easy on the pocket, and offer maximum uptime, enough bandwidth support, appropriate web-space, and excellent customer service and support. Most web hosting services will not excel in all areas, however if you take the time to make an informed decision you can have it all!

The type of web services you desire and the purpose for which the web site is being created plays a major role in the choice for a web host. If the web site to be hosted is a commercial website, checking uptime period of the considered server is vital. Anything less than 99.5% uptime would be unacceptable for most commercial web sites. This is because search engines may be indexing your site at any moment of time and if your site were down it would lose its chance to be indexed on that particular search engine and hence lose probable business. Also, existing customers who would be visiting your site and are unable to load your web page may develop a negative impression about you that could harm business reputation. If the site is for a non-profit organization, a club or any personal page intending to only keep related people informed about certain aspects, a requirement for 99.5% uptime might not be a major criterion in your decision.

Another important aspect is the amount of file space that host offers. An average commercial web site normally contains not more than a few hundred web pages, some java or php scripts and image and multimedia files. All this information ordinarily does on not require web space more than 50-100 MB. Some hosts will charge a lot for additional space, while others will provide much more than 50-100 MB at a minimal cost.

Bandwidth is another issue you should carefully consider. If your site is just a personal homepage, it is unlikely you will get much traffic. However, if your site is an ecommerce site and you are expecting upwards of a thousand visitors a day, you should check the monthly bandwidth allowance that the host offers, since you will be charged if your site goes over this amount.

Make sure to check what “extras” the host offers. Does it give you up to 3 email accounts, or up to 100? Does it allow you to setup subdomains? What technologies does it support? For instance, if you plan to use PHP, make sure that server actually has PHP installed!

Finally, you should check out the web host’s reputation. Have they been in business a long time? Do they have a good reputation within the industry? Are they known for customer service? If your web site is a critical piece of your business, it would be wise to entrust it to a reputable hosting service.

Source: ArticleCity


About The Author

Paul Herbert is very interested in UK web hosting. Learn more at http://www.hosting-netexplorers.co.uk/web_hosting_uk/web_hosting_packages.php.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

What is bandwidth?

1) In electronic communication, bandwidth is the width of the range (or band) of frequencies that an electronic signal uses on a given transmission medium. In this usage, bandwidth is expressed in terms of the difference between the highest-frequency signal component and the lowest-frequency signal component. Since the frequency of a signal is measured in hertz (the number of cycles of change per second), a given bandwidth is the difference in hertz between the highest frequency the signal uses and the lowest frequency it uses. A typical voice signal has a bandwidth of approximately three kilohertz (3 kHz); an analog television (TV) broadcast video signal has a bandwidth of six megahertz (6 MHz) -- some 2,000 times as wide as the voice signal.

2) In computer networks, bandwidth is often used as a synonym for data transfer rate - the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second). This kind of bandwidth is usually expressed in bits (of data) per second (bps). Occasionally, it's expressed as bytes per second (Bps). A modem that works at 57,600 bps has twice the bandwidth of a modem that works at 28,800 bps. In general, a link with a high bandwidth is one that may be able to carry enough information to sustain the succession of images in a video presentation.

It should be remembered that a real communications path usually consists of a succession of links, each with its own bandwidth. If one of these is much slower than the rest, it is said to be a bandwidth bottleneck.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Can you max out your connection speed?

Your PC may not be tuned properly to take full advantage your full connection speed. For those with high speed connections (faster cable networks, FiOS, etc), tuning your TCP stack is necessary if you wish to fully utilise the available bandwidth in one single download.

Our tweak tester will monitor a test download and then suggest which settings you should modify, and why.

More info

My result:
http://www.dslreports.com/tweakr/block:33f6d?service=wireless&speed=6000&os=winXP&via=normal