Bandwidth us how data sent (usually over a network) is measured. It measures speed and amount. It is measured in bytes (which are converted to MB, GB, TB, etc).
Speed
Lets say a network has 100 MB/s of bandwidth. That is the speed of the hardware. The hardware can send/receive 100 MB every second. If some one is using 50 MB/s then they are utilizing half the bandwidth. If more people join things will slow down, assume full utilization:
- 1 Person on gets 100 MB/s
- 2 people on get 50 MB/s
- 3 Get approx 33 MB/s
- Etc.
Amount
Most internet provider limit how much data a user can use in one month. Assume 60 GB for a month. This means that connection can send that much data. If the person uses more they service might shut down as they reached the limit of the service they get or they could get billed extra.
So…
ISPs and site hosters measure bandwidth, their servers have limits on speed and can slow down if more people are on. Also they can limit data sent out from the site (downloads).
By conserving bandwith operations can go faster and things will be cheaper. In the example of Remote hash calculation Vs. Beyond Compare processing the data locally and senfing the data over the network, unless you compare files off the internet you dont have to worry about data sent as it's your own network, is's faster this way.
