Unlimited Bandwidth in Web Hosting

Bandwidth explained
Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you are allowed to have for a hosting package i.e. lets say you have a web page that is 48KB in size, now each time a user opens your site and goes to that page S/he downloads 48 KB of information on to his computer. If a 100 users view that page 100 times then there has been a total of 4800 KB of data transferred from the server on which your files are stored for the computer of users.

Size of web Page: 48 KB
Number of users who viewed the web page: 100
Total amount of data transferred: 48KB * 100 = 4800 KB

Bandwidth is the term that is used to denote the amount of data that has been transferred from your web space.

The amount of bandwidth that you require while choosing a host depends on two factors:
 The size of your site.
 The popularity of your site.

If your site is not very huge and you do not have any audio/video downloads and it’s not very popular i.e. not a lot of people visit your site then you do not really require a lot of bandwidth, on a average a web site uses up only 500 MB of bandwidth per month. Or if your site is small but extremely popular then you might have to go for a web hosting package that offers high bandwidth.

On the other hand if your web site is huge and you are providing audio/video downloads and your site is very popular then you would certainly require a huge amount of bandwidth. Let’s say you have a video file that is 150 MB in size and in a single day a 100 visitors download that file that means that 15 GB of bandwidth will be used. If you multiply that with 30 days for the month it comes to 450 GB.


The unlimited bandwidth controversy
For some time now a lot of hosting companies are supposedly providing "unlimited bandwidth" for their web hosting packages.

And it’s absolutely true, you can have unlimited bandwidth, but you will need unlimited amount of money by your side. Jokes apart, if you ever run into such a host, it would be best to turn and run back the way you came from.

Just think that if you can get unlimited bandwidth for $25-30 a month then why aren’t big companies like sun, Microsoft etc. not hosted there, in fact why isn't everyone hosted there or for that matter if unlimited is a standard feature then why don’t all the hosts offer that.

Is it because it is expensive and requires better hardware? No it’s because some hosts are honest. And don’t give in to such gimmicks.

There are a lot of ways you can be duped by unlimited hosts; here are just a few of them:

The secret of unlimited is actually buried in the Terms of Service of the host, do not be surprised to find that unlimited = 15 GB.

The host may restrict the sort of files that you can host on their server, generally image galleries and audio/video files attract a lot of more downloads thereby resulting in higher bandwidth consumption. So if there are no files of this type your site won’t really require a lot of bandwidth.

Some newly opened hosts use it for a scam, they take your money and after a few months when their server starts to become slow or reaches its limit, they run… with your money.

Some hosts outline in their Terms of Service that you can have unlimited bandwidth, as long as you qualify for it i.e. your site must use less then, lets say 2 GB of bandwidth in order to qualify for the unlimited bandwidth feature, as soon as your site goes over that limit they either start charging you for it or cut off your downloads.


You always get what you pay for, it’s a universal truth and it’s no different for web hosting.

If a host is using a cheap advertising gimmick like unlimited bandwidth they maybe lying about a few other things too, their dedicated support team could be a single person (the hoster itself in most cases) sitting in front of a computer and taking your calls.

Do you really want unlimited bandwidth hosting from hosts that have very limited resources at their disposal? Or do you want to go for a host that has spent thousands of dollars on setting up a good network infrastructure, servers and a highly qualified and dedicated support team? The choice ultimately is yours and yours alone.

Most of the hosting companies offering unlimited this and that, go under very soon...

We are a relatively small hosting company based out of Utah. We advertise quite a bit through Hostsearch. About 2 to 3 years ago this whole unlimited thing started becoming popular. Even those hosts that don't offer unlimited but put up unrealistic numbers like 60Gb of bandwidth for 5 bucks a month really grate on me. If a site was really running that amount of bandwidth do you really think any webhost could afford to host that site at that price, who do they think they are kidding. I have been hosting sites now for a little over 6 years so I consider myself fairly knowledgable in knowing what the margins are. Let me throw some numbers out there for example.

On average a T1 line costs about $400.00 per month, that is a full 1.5Mbps. Now a site running at 60Gb per month is approximately 192kbps which is about 12% of a T1 line of a bandwidth, in other words 60Gb of bandwidth is costing the web host $48.00 per month just in connectivity, that of course does not include other overhead like employees, repairs, utilities, insurances etc...

Our companies policy has been to always strictly state our quotas and to stand by them. From a marketing standpoint though this has hurt us since the average web hosting customer gets decieved and often swindled by these operations that promise the world for basically pennies. Eventually of course these customers get burned and move on to yet another scam operation, always hoping to get the ultimate bang for their buck. I guess people need to realize that you do get what you pay for, and if the deal looks too good to be true it usually is.

Bottom line its hard to make an honest living/business when you are surrounded by too many shysters, but somehow we have survived now for the last 6 years. I guess our customer retention is fairly good and we do get alot of work of mouth, but I sure wish people would wise up to the whole unlimited thing and make the crooks go away.

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
CEO
NPS Internet Solutions, Inc.
www.npsis.com

hi,

Yes np what you are saying is absoultely true, i really do wish there were certain rules and standards that every host has to follow :)

Yes, unlimited bandwidth generally scares customers as it is not a possible feature to provide. However, we notice that some customers still look for unlimited hosting / unlimited bandwidth etc. even though they know it is not possible...

Actually, the unlimited marketing tactic started much earlier in 2000 after the .com bust scared many host into thinking they had to offer the world for pennies in order to stay afloat. Of course the web hosting industry did not suffer at all during the .com bust but actually increased for those seeking to market honestly to the small business segment.

Unlimited is simply a marketing tactic and most host that still offer such will sooner or later go belly up or else have serious restrictions in their terms of service.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

Unlimited is a marketing tactic indeed, but not all of those hosting companies will go belly up. Their goal is to get as many users as possible, and then sell...

Perhaps so but what serious buyer is going to purchase such a loosing scheme such as unlimited data transfer? I certainly would not be interested. Most offer this only with serious restrictions in their terms of service. Otherwise the company is at serious risk of becoming overwhelmed by the cost of bandwidth.

Several years ago, we offered a variation of this called "unmetered data transfer" meaning we would not place a meter on data transfer but if we did see problems on a server with excessive bandwidth requirements then we would determine the source and suspend the domain causing it if they used more than 15% of server resources. This was of course clearly written in our terms of service and we had to place a lot of restrictions in the terms. Two years ago, after much evaluation, we determined that even "unmetered" was not a good policy to either the customer or our company so we converted to a metered plan with generous traffic allowances. The former plan was misunderstood by many and caused more harm than good.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

hi there,

I've just found a web hosting called www.cheapdotnet.com. Has anyone heard about them?
The price is cheap anyway.

Btw, if you are looking for an Australian hosting company, please visit www.aspwebhosting.com.au.

Just in the past 2-3 weeks I've seen at least 10 companies offer free or low cost web hosting plans for small businesses. I've seen free to $4.95 from most of them but I'd set my standard for cheap by a larger company. Last week Yahoo sent out a press release for $11.95 web hosting. I'd say that's about as low as you can expect to go without a "you get what you pay for" warning attached to it.

If your site is not critical, just get something cheap or free. But if your site makes money then get something reliable, even if it's more expensive.

Amen on that and congrats on your 100th post!!

It is amazing how many ecommerce site owners that are making serious money balk at increasing their web hosting plan or upgrading to a dedicated server. Even though our $99/yr shared hosting plan is affordable and reliable, personally I wouldn't want a site making many thousands of dollars per year to be hosted on a shared server. There are way too many variables with shared hosting to gamble with loosing out on serious sales. I am not saying that everyone making money should upgrade to a dedicated server but one must evaluate it closely for business continuity.

Either way, unlimited host in my opinion are unethical in their marketing practice.

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

Thanks Darrell :),

Quote:

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I wouldn't want a site making many thousands of dollars per year to be hosted on a shared server.

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Very well said!



Peter

I am agree with webedit too.

Would it be ok to host with unlimited bandwidth if your site is small?

I consider the same question mentioned by gobeer123
Our company has the problem with it, our clients sometimes complain about the speed of the website, but our business hasn't grown so strong, so it's still in disscussion wherher or not to update our sitebandwidth

I consider the same question mentioned by gobeer123
Our company has the problem with it, our clients sometimes complain about the speed of the website, but our business hasn't grown so strong, so it's still in disscussion wherher or not to update our sitebandwidth

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gobeer123

Would it be ok to host with unlimited bandwidth if your site is small?

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Unlimited bandwidth does not exist bcoz bandwidth is a commodity that someone needs to pay for eventually. The term unlimited is only a marketing strategy. Go through the TOS of companies offering unlimited bandwidth and you will find some restrictions after all nothing in the world is unlimited.

Thanks James,

I'll be careful not to host with company offering unlimited bandwidth.

just dont trust host that offer unlimited space / bandwith

what people don't realize is that there is a bandwidth limit...whaver their hosting provider's servers can handle. no such thing as unlimited bandwidth. just a sales pitch.

Great Info!

I don't think it's OK to go for unlimited bandwidth even if your website is small. Soon or a later you'll regret it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ASP-Hosting.ca

I don't think it's OK to go for unlimited bandwidth even if your website is small. Soon or a later you'll regret it.

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As far as resources go, unlimited is a large flag for oversold.

The interesting thing is though, that surprizingly many people get drawn to "unlmited" featers, completely disregarding quality of service...

UNLIMITED Bandwidth does not exist in the hosting business and I wonder how people get away with advertising it.. but.. it's good that more and more people are aware about it now that it's just a scam.

I dont think that there is nomthignnamed Unlimited in the webhosting world

THere is always a catch for those who offer unlimited bandwidth

watch out