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# Website Hosting Capacity * * * First, determine the disk space and bandwidth you need. * * * ## How Much Disk Space? Small or medium-sized websites require at least 10MB to 100MB of disk space. If considering only HTML pages, their average size is quite small—perhaps even less than 1KB. However, when examining the graphics used on pages, you’ll find that most images are significantly larger than the page itself. Including images and other space-consuming elements, each page may occupy 5KB to 50KB of server space. If you plan to use a large number of images and graphical elements (excluding audio and video files), you may need more disk space. Before selecting a provider, clearly define your required disk space. * * * ## Monthly Bandwidth Small or medium-sized websites need at least 1GB to 5GB of data transfer per month. You can calculate this as follows: multiply the average page size by the expected monthly page views. For example, if your average page size is 30KB and expected monthly page views are 50,000, then you need 0.03MB × 50,000 = 1.5GB. Larger commercial sites typically consume no less than 100GB of bandwidth per month. Before signing a contract with a hosting provider, clarify the following: * What is the monthly bandwidth limit? * Will your website be taken offline if the limit is exceeded? * Will there be additional charges if the limit is exceeded? * Is it easy to upgrade your hosting plan? * * * ## Connection Speed Visitors typically access your site using modems, while hosting providers maintain extremely high connection speeds. In the early days of the Internet, T1 connections were considered very fast. Today’s connection speeds are much faster. 1 byte equals 8 bits (the number of bits needed to transmit one character). Low-speed modems can transmit approximately 14,000 to 56,000 bits per second (14–56 Kbps), i.e., 2,000–7,000 characters per second, or roughly 1–5 pages of text. One kilobit (Kb) equals 1024 bits. One megabit (Mb) equals 1024 kilobits. One gigabit (Gb) equals 1024 megabits. These are the connection speeds currently used on the Internet: | Name | Connection | Speed per Second | | --- | --- | --- | | Modem | Analog | 14.4–56Kb | | D0 | Digital(ISDN) | 64Kb | | T1 | Digital | 1.55Mb | | T3 | Digital | 43Mb | | OC-1 | Optical Carrier | 52Mb | | OC-2 | Optical Carrier | 156Mb | | OC-12 | Optical Carrier | 622Mb | | OC-24 | Optical Carrier | 1.244Gb | | OC-48 | Optical Carrier | 2.488Gb | Before signing a contract, try visiting other websites hosted on the provider’s servers, and it’s also a good idea to communicate with other customers.