Infrastructure Insights. Engineering in Focus.

Capped vs Unmetered Bandwidth: The All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Problem

When people talk about bandwidth for video delivery, the conversation quickly gets technical — terabytes, gigabits, throughput. But sometimes the simplest way to understand the difference is to think about food.

Imagine two restaurants:

The Pay-Per-Plate Restaurant (Capped Bandwidth)

In this restaurant, you pay for each plate of food. You sit down, order a steak, and pay for it. Want another? Pay again. Bring five friends? The bill goes up fast.

That’s how capped bandwidth works. Every gigabyte you use is another charge. If your traffic spikes — a live concert, a viral video, or a breaking news stream — the bill rises sharply.

The All-You-Can-Eat Buffet (Unmetered Bandwidth)

In this restaurant, you pay a flat fee and eat as much as you want. Whether you eat one plate or ten, the cost doesn’t change.

That’s how unmetered bandwidth works. Your traffic can scale up or down, and you always know what you’ll pay.

Why It Matters

For streaming workloads, predictability is everything. Peaks are natural — audiences come and go, sometimes in huge waves. Capped bandwidth punishes success; unmetered bandwidth enables it.

At Gloman, our flat-fee unmetered model means our clients don’t get surprised by hidden costs. They can focus on delivering content, not calculating bills.