Here at Secure Thoughts we’re big on backup services – it’s no doubt one of the easiest and most fool proof ways to protect your data. External hard drives and SD cards are great for clearing space on your computer and mobile device, but they’re just as susceptible to the same dangers as your device is.

If your device or storage unit gets stolen, damaged, lost, corrupted, or infected with a virus, everything you have on there – contacts, files, photos, all of it – is gone for good. That kind of data loss in today’s day and age is catastrophic.

Most people don’t even know their mother’s phone number anymore, let alone have hard copies of family photos or tax returns. It’s a dangerous game the majority of users are playing, and the stakes are high. If you haven’t already looked into an online backup service, do it now. It’s like insurance for…everything.

But anyway, back to the point. There are loads of online backup services out there – they’re popping up like Starbucks, with flashy advertising, big promises, and more technical features and specifications than the average shopper typically understands.

The biggest problem though is one that you usually find in the fine print – upload speeds.

The way online backup services typically work is by uploading copies of your files to a remote location. When you sign up for a service plan, you get a software package, and typically that program will automatically start backing up your entire system.

Usually this process only takes hours, maybe a day or two max, depending on how much you have stored, and the bandwidth allowed by your ISP. Totally understandable, and from there backups in the future run in seconds as files are added and modified on your device.

The problem is, some companies are stingy with their bandwidth. Some users have found out the hard way that when they set up their software weeks (or even months ago), the program never actually finished backing up their files, and they’re still vulnerable to loss.

The reason for this is that some companies, in an effort to keep upload speeds fast for all of their customers, actually cap your daily upload allowance at a certain amount of data per day. It’s not something they advertise, so unless you read the fine print or scan their knowledgebase, it’s likely something you’re not even going to be aware of until, well, you are.

Business professionals in particular with large amounts of data have been flabbergasted to learn that after all of this time, not all of their files were backed up, and lost massive amounts of data in device failures and manual erasure as a result.

While not many companies (that we know of) do this, it’s something you’ll definitely want to outright ask a service representative before you sign up for a service plan – Do you throttle my bandwidth?

Now, this isn’t to be confused with a manual throttling feature most programs include – stay with me here. These backup services also realize that during that initial massive backup period when you first get started, life goes on, and you may need to use your computer for something else as well while the process ensues.

For this reason, a bandwidth throttling feature that you control is actually very handy – just adjust the controls when you need certain processes to take precedence over your backup, and the software adjusts, allowing you to keep doing what you gotta do while the program backs up your files.

The problem is, some companies put a bandwidth throttle feature in there, and then still turn around and restrict your upload speed. Carbonite is a huge name in the online backup industry, and one company that quietly does this to their paying customers.

Forget the rip offs, screw the scams – don’t let it happen to you. This isn’t the norm, and there are better options out there. You can get fast, unlimited bandwidth and secure online backup without compromising speed, and there are plenty of options out there that will give you that.

Be thorough, give their customer support team a workout, and read the fine print on any program you take an interest in, but in my experience the fastest and most affordable backup service is iDrive, hands down. Start there and see if it works for you, and start backing up your devices yesterday.