Do I need a special ISP package to do a file hosting site?

Do I need a special ISP package to do a file hosting site?

• Would I need something comparable to "corporate" or medium, to host a file sharing site?

• Answer:

  You first need a static IP address to provide external access, or the address can change at any time and nobody can find the machine. You will also need a VERY fast connection as your upstream is typically going to be less than 10 % of your download speed and this will be the maximum download speed of users. So if people are sharing the connection externally on a 20 Mbps connection, they will be trying to share between 500 Kbps and 2Mbps upstream bandwidth at your server. To get the static IP you will pay extra with most services, and they will possibly want you to subscribe also to a more expensive business broadband service. It will also need to be unlimited download as otherwise you will very quickly use al your allowance each month. Then you can offer direct Windows file sharing, or for security offer a vpn connection. Or install a web server and use FTP, but be very careful of security whichever way or people can easily post a lot of infected files to the machine, or even scripts they can use to make a base for email spam relaying or bank phishing scams. So keep a close watch on server log files.