Bandwidth vs Speed
- Bandwidth (Transfer) — total data moved, measured in TB/month
- Port speed — maximum data rate, measured in Mbps or Gbps
Think of port speed as the width of a pipe and bandwidth as the total water that flows through it.
Billing Models
- Inclusive bandwidth — fixed amount included in your plan (e.g., 3 TB/month). Most common.
- Unmetered — unlimited transfer at a fixed port speed (e.g., 1 Gbps unmetered)
- Pay-per-GB — charged for each GB transferred beyond a base amount
What Counts Toward Bandwidth
- Web page and API responses (outbound)
- File downloads served to users
- Backups transferred to remote storage
- Software updates downloaded (inbound)
Reducing Usage
- Enable Gzip/Brotli compression (reduces text-based transfers 60-80%)
- Use a CDN for static assets
- Optimize and compress images
- Set aggressive cache headers for static files
- Use HTTP/2 for more efficient transfers
Monitoring
sudo apt install -y vnstat
vnstat -m # Monthly summary
vnstat -d # Daily breakdown
vnstat -l # Live monitoring