about bandwith usage

[steven619]

Okay..so I'm the only one that still thinks a 95th percentile (MRTG) is the best way to go for higher bandwidth hogs....

When we first started to do VOD (video on demand) we tried to figure out how many people downloading x amount of files would cost....wow..I was way off.

But to start you may want to visit http://www.numion.com/Calculators/
They have some cool calculators.

For those that don't know much about bandwidth via 95th percentile check out google..or look at http://www.dls.net/support/kb/index.phtml?id=159

After our 100th server I relized that 95th percentile bandwidth saves us a LOT of money and we have more control over each site's bandwidth. THere is more you can adjust then if you were just billed at "x" per Y. You can also allow a larger cap to give users a faster download.

But also as important is the design of your delivery.
You can put a per user or per file cap on your downloads or streaming.
And watch your stats pages....you will start to see that not to many people have high speed yet. So you can ajust your stream or downloads based on this.

Bandwith to most of us is 90% of the cost of having a website.
It good to really understand what all this really works out to cost and how to take advantage of what your datacenter offers.

But please...
Avoid going really cheap and getting tier 3 bandwidth with tier three fiber. And always avoid the "unlimited bandwidth". There is no such thing...really...

[basschick]

capping your members is a great way to get cancels and chargebacks.

if you offer clips that are 6 - 12 mb each on average, and each member downloads 10 per visit on average, making 6 visits per month, the top that will be is 720mb per member. let's be generous and add in some pics - you are still at 1 gig per member per month.

now, say a few guys are going to download more. okay, triple those 10 downloads and 6 visits. you're still talking only 3 gigs per member per month. that is a lot of downloading. and keep in mind, some of those guys aren't gonna go for the biggest size if you offer multiples. strongbox or pennywize should protect you from guys giving away their passwords.

of course by not using clips you could pay more for bandwidth plus slow down your members getting to what they wanna see. i'm a big believer in offering the members the option of clips or full movies. it saves money and keeps impatient members happy.

even if your members go nuts and download 5 gig each per month, that's still what - a buck? a buck and a half? your members spend $25 a month - isn't it worth spending $3 a month to keep each one happy and rebilling?