Thanks to the widening of broadband and also to the hundreds of formats available (audio, video, text, etc) we use nowadays to send information over the Internet, we generally end up having very large documents to share, to the extent that it is impossible to send them via e-mail or at least, via free e-mail accounts.

Some videos, for instance, may be over 200 Mb. Holiday pictures may be over some 200 Mb and your favourite music may be easily over another 40 Mb.

Most advanced users have two alternatives when dealing with this issue of file sending: either to resort to the FTP Protocol (File Transfer Protocol) -created to transfer files- or to some other alternative, as the P2P exchange networks. However, in both cases specific programs are required and you also need to master these programs in order to send files successfully. Moreover, the disadvantage of P2P and FTP lies in that they require a synchronic file sending that makes it compulsory for both users to be connected at the same time.

Yet, several web sites offer much simpler alternatives, aimed at users who want to get rid of inconveniences. Sometimes, you can even skip registration and before uploading a file to the desired web site server, you only need to fill in a simple form. These sites produce a link, which recipients will have to click on in order to have access to the contents. This can be done regardless the recipient is connected or not, and that is why this is an interesting option when you look for flexibility.

The most popular ones are:

*Megaupload, where you can send files up to 500 Mb and Rapidshare, which limit is 100 Mb.

In addition, many other companies offer services capable of sending hundreds of megabytes, for instance:

* Badongo: This site gives you greater download limits, which become unlimited in the non free Premium version. There is one category for 'free registered users' which asks you to upload your profile before having access to their service, offering 12 Gb per day. Non registered users enjoy 4.8 Gb per day. On the other hand, file transfer speed is not limited by the service when you pay for it (in this case, the limit is the user's connection limit); transfer speed is limited within free options, where the limit is 500 Mb per second. Premium fee is USD 9.99 a month, but they offer discounts if you buy the service for several months.

* GigaSize: You have two options: the free version has a download limit of 1.5 Gb per day, while the non free version offers unlimited downloads. In the free version, files are deleted after ninety days, but this is not the case with the non free version. Moreover, in the non free version, you don't have to put up with advertisements.

* ifPost.com: This is free and has no download limit and what is more, you can to share several files at a time. However, it only allows you to upload one Gigabyte per day.

*in.solit.us: This is a free site that is meant to share files and that is integrated into Social Software. Here you can organize your files by tags and you can also decide who is going to have access to the uploaded files, or else, if anyone can have access to them.

*Twango: It allows you to upload up to 100 Mb for free and you can also make use of an online multimedia player for videos, music and images.


Pando, all in one

Pando is a program that combines the concept of file sharing through the web together with P2P. Users are to download an application that will later manage the sending and reception of files. This is supported by Pando servers in case the user is not connected, in order not to interrupt file transfer process.

This is an alternative that presents less restrictions than those based only in web sites. In its free version, you are allowed to transfer files and whole folders up to 1 Gb, although it requires the recipient to install a program and files will be only available from 7 to 30 days, depending on the download link.