India Broadband Forum

ehostpros

Hi,

The Truth About Unlimited Disk Space and Bandwidth

Web Hosting is a commodity. The main elements of any web hosting plan are disk space and bandwidth. Disk space is the space you have allotted on the web server to store your website. Bandwidth is an amount you have available to transfer web pages from the web server to the browsers of visitors to your site. Web pages and graphics consume bandwidth or capacity on the web. Bandwidth and disk space cost money.

The network lines that carry data around the web (optic fiber, cable, copper wire etc) have a finite capacity. There is a limit to the amount of data that can be transferred at any point in time. Likewise, the hard drive of a web server has a limited amount of space determined by the physical size of the hard drive.

Many web hosting companies claim to offer “unlimited” plans (both disk space and bandwidth), but be aware that there are physical limitations to both disk space and bandwidth. Before you buy an “unlimited” plan, know what you’re getting into.

The Attraction to Unlimited
When consumers decide they want to place a website on the internet, they are often unaware of the fact that there are limitations. Unlimited is attractive because it requires no further thought. If it’s unlimited then I never need to worry about running out right? Although this is understandable, there are risks with purchasing unlimited plans.

The Unlimited Fact
Many web hosting companies offer “unlimited” as a plan feature. It is impossible for any provider to actually provide an unlimited amount of bandwidth or disk space. It’s just not possible.

So Why Do Unlimited Plans Exist?
Most websites only consume a very small amount of bandwidth and disk space. Web hosting companies that provide unlimited anything as a plan feature are banking on the fact that you won’t use very much. Unlimited is a marketing trick to get your business. The web hosting market is very competitive. Although selling plans that pretend to be unlimited can seem dishonest, it does not mean that the hosting company will not provide good service. Check in the hosting company’s Terms of Service: there will probably be a note about what “unlimited” really means.

When Are Unlimited Plans Not Ok?
If you intend to have a lot of visitors to your site, lots of downloads, including audio or video files, do not choose an unlimited plan hoping to get unrestricted bandwidth. You will find yourself with problems. Your web host is not going to run at a loss for long - they could shut down your website or even charge you extra (read the terms of service).

So What Is The Best Thing To Do?
The best course of action is to plan ahead. Calculate what type of bandwidth and disk space you will need for your site then multiply it by 2 just to allow for expansion. Remember, you can always buy more bandwidth or disk space if you need - often for only a few dollars a month extra. Look for plans that meet those requirements.

Only consider an unlimited hosting plan if you know your disk space and bandwidth requirements are very low. If, on the other hand, you have an ecommerce site or a site that you expect to grow in size and bandwidth in future, avoid any plans that offer unlimited bandwidth or disk space.

With regards,
Dheeraj kumar.B
ehostpros.in

Beebatsam

Thankss 4 sharing

bluelobs

Dear Mate,

You are very much true of your sense. No body cannot offer unlimited web hosting...but providers can calculate the usage..if it can be possible.

just look at this page...it will make you clear..

bluelobs.in

niceboy

Correct. Unlimited hosting is just a business technique from Hosting companies. for attracting customers.

Nb

BradEuk

I dont think there are that many companies which provide unlimited hosting.

The only one I think that can come up with unlimited hosting is Google

mickey

nice thread....sorry cant rep now

Saurabh.J

Yes indeed, unlimited hosting or Free hosting is a common marketing technique to attract customers. Usually such web hosting providers tend to oversell and overload the server, which inturn hampers the performance of all the accounts/websites hosted on it.
One should be very careful while choosing a web hosting provider, make sure that they do not oversell.

speedhost.in

There is nothing like unlimited hosting, though there is unmetered. Most of the people providing unlimited hosting are on shared servers and therefore it is even worse as maybe someone else is eating into your resources when they exploit the unlimited option.

Saurabh.J

There is a big difference between unlimited and unmetered hosting. People usually tend to misunderstand between these two. In unlimited kind of web hosting, you are bound to get a notification at some point of time from the web hosting provider about the resource consumption once you reach a certain limit. If you continue to utilize the resources, they would surely suspend your web hosting account. An individual must thoroughly go through the terms of service before signing- up for such a web hosting provider.

birender

http://www.webhostingstuff.com/uptim...hnologies.html

Saurabh.J

Birender, the link you have provided shows the uptime of the servers on which a paticular web hosting domain is hosted. The discussion thats going on in this thread is of Unlimited vs Unmetered webhosting, if I am not wrong.

Anyways, thanks for sharing the link. I would like to add to it that one should completely rely on such websites, as such data can be manipulated too.

whitestar_999

you mean should not,right!

Saurabh.J

Yeah I mean't that, it was a typo mistake, sorry for that.

birender

Dear Saurabh,

these is nothing like that were that website is hosted if the hosting server is shared then that servers having 1000 of website which are having the same impact on all website if connectivity is down then all website face the downtime.

Birender

lenovohost

Hi

UNLIMITED is piratically not possible