Wow, I have unlimited bandwidth!

Michau · 02-08-2005, 04:57 AM

This tutorial comes from Host Scores website. You may copy, reproduce and put it on your website free of charge, if you adhere to this license.

Chances are you have already seen hosting offers like this: unlimited bandwidth for $3 a month. If you haven't, you'll probably see it soon somewhere. It may be unlimited bandwidth, mailboxes, space or whatever; I titled this tutorial "unlimited bandwidth" because it's the most common option.

Now you would be stupid not to sign up for this service, wouldn't you? Imagine that: UNLIMITED bandwidth. No matter how many visitors your site has, how popular it might become, you don't need to worry about your bandwidth because you can have as much of it as you want.

If you think that way, I don't blame you. I used to think the same. However, when I tried few of these "unlimited" offers, read and thought about them a while, I came to some conclusions. The most important one is: don't get lured!

There is never unlimited amount of anything. For example, typical hard disks are now 80 or 120 gigabytes. They will become bigger and bigger, but there is no "unlimited disk". If you run out of space, you simply need to buy another disk, that's it. With bandwidth it is about the same: an Internet connection for your host can have 10MB/s or higher throughput, but it is never an "unlimited" one. There is a point when you just can't push it further. So the truth about these offers is that they are talking about UNMETERED bandwidth. Unmetered means simply "we don't measure exactly how much you use it". And that's all.

Well, you might think: "Okay, it is unmetered then. Still good: they don't measure it so I can use plenty of it. They won't notice since they do not check it."

Wrong again. Think again about resource limits of the server machine your site is on. The computer probably cost $2000 or so (if it cost less, it will be slow as a cow), and the Internet connection may be something about $500 a month. Now there's the cost of electricity, technical support, collocation facility rental, and so on, and so on. So to make decent profit from your $3 per month, the company is about to put 500, 1000 or even 2000 people on the same computer. Other way it will simply not be worth it.

So there you are, hosted on a $3/month host with 1000 other people. Imagine that your site is becoming popular (or maybe you have big files for downloading), and you get more and more visitors. The same happens to other websites on your server. What's the result? Simply, the server is working more and more slowly. So does your website. Remember, the Internet connection, server CPU power, disk etc are not unlimited; the same amount of them must be divided between more and more page requests. Even if your site worked great when it had 10 visitors a day, you cannot expect that it will continue to do the same with 10.000 visitors. It simply will not.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/webmaster-tutorials/68956-wow-i-have-unlimited-bandwidth.html

So what is the hosting company going to do? They will select websites which eat up the most bandwidth (or CPU power), and tell them to go away. Don't believe it? Read carefully terms of service you agreed to when buying the host. Buried in fine print, there is a clause saying: "we reserve the right to cancel your account if it uses too much server resources". They will make good use of it, you can be sure. And don't expect a refund when they close your account. You will not get your money back, because you violated their TOS – by using too much of your "unlimited" bandwidth! That's how it looks like in reality. I didn't invent all this - it happened to me many times.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=68956

Of course, there are some real unmetered bandwidth hosts. They don't cost $2 or $3, but rather $100-$300 per month. If you buy them, you are usually the only person utilizing the server, and then you can really use its full processing power and bandwidth. For $5 or less don't expect anything even close to that.

adam_uk · 02-08-2005, 06:51 AM

interesting artcile but

Quote:

The computer probably cost $2000 or so (if it cost less, it will be slow as a cow), and the Internet connection may be something about $500 a month. Now there's the cost of electricity, technical support, collocation facility rental, and so on, and so on. So to make decent profit from your $3 per month, the company is about to put 500, 1000 or even 2000 people on the same computer. Other way it will simply not be worth it.

i think these prices are slightly in accurate, i dont have to worry about electric,cost of tech support, for paying internet connection fees i just pay a montly fee for my server. and the box certinaly isnt slow as hell and didnt cost $2000
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=68956

just my views.

JMJ · 02-08-2005, 09:08 AM

I believe the point is to get people to realize "If it's too good to be true, it is." Hosting is a numbers game with most hosts. Have a look on this forum and you can see that. I saw someone give something like 25 gigs of space and 80 gigs of bandwidth for $8 a month..lol Thats INSANE! All this person was doing is taking a gamble on whether or not this person was going to use even a fraction of that and sticking them on a server with 1000 other people with the same promises. Now what happens if all of those peoples sites (which is unlikely but consider it) become popular enough to use all of the promised space and BW? First the server and then the host comes crashing down like many before. You see people posting on the forums all the time complaining about their sites being down with whatever host and they wonder why that is but I bet if you asked them how much they were paying versus their BW and space it's pennies on the dollar.

sunken · 02-08-2005, 10:49 AM

That's all very true indeed. Websites get real nervous when your site gets popular, which I find ironic since when you sign up they push you to make your site popular (giving you all kinds of tools to submit, etc). Even some of the ones that have a limit get nervous when you start using that limit.

Great article.

Mike_Wiseman · 02-08-2005, 03:02 PM

they only call it unlimited bandwith so it will attract people who are getting started with websites and stuf and try and get money off them later on.

Originally Posted by Sublime.Name

I saw someone give something like 25 gigs of space and 80 gigs of bandwidth for $8 a month..lol Thats INSANE! All this person was doing is taking a gamble on whether or not this person was going to use even a fraction of that and sticking them on a server with 1000 other people with the same promises.

lol that was me (about to buy it) but im not all "serious" in hosting. This will be my first time becoming a reseller so im not looking into getting all that top dollar crap, also its more for my purposes. Im most likely not going to be selling alot to other people, maybe just host me and a few of my friends and people i know well. So its not always that a person is to stupid to realise what they are getting into.

majinbuu1023 · 02-08-2005, 06:45 PM

unmetered bandwidth is good... and you can get it...but not for $3 a month...for like 45 a month.... well atleast 30 bucks for unmetered

sunken · 02-08-2005, 07:04 PM

Somewhere in the fine print is generally where you find "unmetered" bandwidth means no site with image archives, mp3's, file downloads over x megabytes, etc. These will be billed at x dollars over 30 gig or whatever. Or they just cut you off period. Even at $100-300, unless you are on your own direct connection, there is a possibility that if you start pushing 4-5 Terabytes, they might get a hair upset and cut you off. There is no such thing as unmetered bandwidth or companies would lose their shirts. They advertise that knowing that people don't read the AUP and also that most sites really overestimate what their traffic was going to be. I had this vision that when I added all this stuff to my site, that it would be tons of gigs, but it's really only used 3 gig at best. Personally I'd like to know the rules before going in, than find out later...

Qwert · 02-08-2005, 07:15 PM

Interesting article, but a server doesn't have to cost 2K to be decent. And also, they are not making that back in a month like they try to imply in the article. But the other stuff they said was true, and for a lot of newbies I hope will be very helpful.

vip-ip · 02-08-2005, 07:20 PM

Well, "slow as cow" depends on what you use it for :-) _unistate.com is a Pentium 1 on ADSL

Veolus · 02-08-2005, 09:50 PM

somehow some people still believe in that unlimited bandwidth/space ....

majinbuu1023 · 02-08-2005, 10:02 PM

yup... I didn't beleive from the start...anywys u don't need unlimited...except with exceptions for namepros

1rrr1 · 02-08-2005, 11:42 PM

they always say unlimited band, you don't need that much, and they will move you to a dedicated server and cost you heaps later

majinbuu1023 · 02-08-2005, 11:45 PM

YAh...what he said ^_^
You will never use unlimited bandwidth because you will use a certain amount...(if you know what I mean)

suthra · 02-11-2005, 05:15 AM

NICE article, neatly written

hotrod12 · 02-11-2005, 03:53 PM

Good tutorial! Hope it prevents alot of people from getting hosting from companies who offer this.

02-08-2005, 04:57 AM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
Michau NamePros Regular Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Poland Posts: 245	Wow, I have unlimited bandwidth! This tutorial comes from Host Scores website. You may copy, reproduce and put it on your website free of charge, if you adhere to this license. Chances are you have already seen hosting offers like this: unlimited bandwidth for $3 a month. If you haven't, you'll probably see it soon somewhere. It may be unlimited bandwidth, mailboxes, space or whatever; I titled this tutorial "unlimited bandwidth" because it's the most common option. Now you would be stupid not to sign up for this service, wouldn't you? Imagine that: UNLIMITED bandwidth. No matter how many visitors your site has, how popular it might become, you don't need to worry about your bandwidth because you can have as much of it as you want. If you think that way, I don't blame you. I used to think the same. However, when I tried few of these "unlimited" offers, read and thought about them a while, I came to some conclusions. The most important one is: don't get lured! There is never unlimited amount of anything. For example, typical hard disks are now 80 or 120 gigabytes. They will become bigger and bigger, but there is no "unlimited disk". If you run out of space, you simply need to buy another disk, that's it. With bandwidth it is about the same: an Internet connection for your host can have 10MB/s or higher throughput, but it is never an "unlimited" one. There is a point when you just can't push it further. So the truth about these offers is that they are talking about UNMETERED bandwidth. Unmetered means simply "we don't measure exactly how much you use it". And that's all. Well, you might think: "Okay, it is unmetered then. Still good: they don't measure it so I can use plenty of it. They won't notice since they do not check it." Wrong again. Think again about resource limits of the server machine your site is on. The computer probably cost $2000 or so (if it cost less, it will be slow as a cow), and the Internet connection may be something about $500 a month. Now there's the cost of electricity, technical support, collocation facility rental, and so on, and so on. So to make decent profit from your $3 per month, the company is about to put 500, 1000 or even 2000 people on the same computer. Other way it will simply not be worth it. So there you are, hosted on a $3/month host with 1000 other people. Imagine that your site is becoming popular (or maybe you have big files for downloading), and you get more and more visitors. The same happens to other websites on your server. What's the result? Simply, the server is working more and more slowly. So does your website. Remember, the Internet connection, server CPU power, disk etc are not unlimited; the same amount of them must be divided between more and more page requests. Even if your site worked great when it had 10 visitors a day, you cannot expect that it will continue to do the same with 10.000 visitors. It simply will not. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/webmaster-tutorials/68956-wow-i-have-unlimited-bandwidth.html So what is the hosting company going to do? They will select websites which eat up the most bandwidth (or CPU power), and tell them to go away. Don't believe it? Read carefully terms of service you agreed to when buying the host. Buried in fine print, there is a clause saying: "we reserve the right to cancel your account if it uses too much server resources". They will make good use of it, you can be sure. And don't expect a refund when they close your account. You will not get your money back, because you violated their TOS – by using too much of your "unlimited" bandwidth! That's how it looks like in reality. I didn't invent all this - it happened to me many times. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=68956 Of course, there are some real unmetered bandwidth hosts. They don't cost $2 or $3, but rather $100-$300 per month. If you buy them, you are usually the only person utilizing the server, and then you can really use its full processing power and bandwidth. For $5 or less don't expect anything even close to that. __________________ Dropcatcher.de - .de domain dropcatching!

02-08-2005, 09:08 AM	#3 (permalink)
JMJ Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Nashville Posts: 1,888	I believe the point is to get people to realize "If it's too good to be true, it is." Hosting is a numbers game with most hosts. Have a look on this forum and you can see that. I saw someone give something like 25 gigs of space and 80 gigs of bandwidth for $8 a month..lol Thats INSANE! All this person was doing is taking a gamble on whether or not this person was going to use even a fraction of that and sticking them on a server with 1000 other people with the same promises. Now what happens if all of those peoples sites (which is unlikely but consider it) become popular enough to use all of the promised space and BW? First the server and then the host comes crashing down like many before. You see people posting on the forums all the time complaining about their sites being down with whatever host and they wonder why that is but I bet if you asked them how much they were paying versus their BW and space it's pennies on the dollar. Last edited by JMJ; 02-08-2005 at 09:14 AM.

02-08-2005, 10:49 AM	#4 (permalink)
sunken Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,279	That's all very true indeed. Websites get real nervous when your site gets popular, which I find ironic since when you sign up they push you to make your site popular (giving you all kinds of tools to submit, etc). Even some of the ones that have a limit get nervous when you start using that limit. Great article. __________________ juegos juegos \| Your Hotel in Austria psicologo valencia

02-08-2005, 06:45 PM	#6 (permalink)
majinbuu1023 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 3,746	unmetered bandwidth is good... and you can get it...but not for $3 a month...for like 45 a month.... well atleast 30 bucks for unmetered __________________ WowHumor.net - Funny World of Warcraft Pictures

02-08-2005, 07:04 PM	#7 (permalink)
sunken Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,279	Somewhere in the fine print is generally where you find "unmetered" bandwidth means no site with image archives, mp3's, file downloads over x megabytes, etc. These will be billed at x dollars over 30 gig or whatever. Or they just cut you off period. Even at $100-300, unless you are on your own direct connection, there is a possibility that if you start pushing 4-5 Terabytes, they might get a hair upset and cut you off. There is no such thing as unmetered bandwidth or companies would lose their shirts. They advertise that knowing that people don't read the AUP and also that most sites really overestimate what their traffic was going to be. I had this vision that when I added all this stuff to my site, that it would be tons of gigs, but it's really only used 3 gig at best. Personally I'd like to know the rules before going in, than find out later... __________________ juegos juegos \| Your Hotel in Austria psicologo valencia

02-08-2005, 07:15 PM	#8 (permalink)
Qwert Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: ~Rented~ Posts: 2,930	Interesting article, but a server doesn't have to cost 2K to be decent. And also, they are not making that back in a month like they try to imply in the article. But the other stuff they said was true, and for a lot of newbies I hope will be very helpful. __________________ [Max font size in sig area is "2"]

02-08-2005, 07:20 PM	#9 (permalink)
vip-ip Account Suspended Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: root@localhost Posts: 4,011	Well, "slow as cow" depends on what you use it for :-) _unistate.com is a Pentium 1 on ADSL

02-08-2005, 09:50 PM	#10 (permalink)
Veolus Account Closed Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 4,308	somehow some people still believe in that unlimited bandwidth/space ....

02-08-2005, 10:02 PM	#11 (permalink)
majinbuu1023 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 3,746	yup... I didn't beleive from the start...anywys u don't need unlimited...except with exceptions for namepros __________________ WowHumor.net - Funny World of Warcraft Pictures

02-08-2005, 11:42 PM	#12 (permalink)
1rrr1 NamePros Expert Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 6,286	they always say unlimited band, you don't need that much, and they will move you to a dedicated server and cost you heaps later __________________ Drop Catching Services - Click here for more info Especially effective for .co, .in and .co.in domains. I also offer drop lists for these extensions.

02-08-2005, 11:45 PM	#13 (permalink)
majinbuu1023 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 3,746	YAh...what he said ^_^ You will never use unlimited bandwidth because you will use a certain amount...(if you know what I mean) __________________ WowHumor.net - Funny World of Warcraft Pictures

02-11-2005, 05:15 AM	#14 (permalink)
suthra Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2,656	NICE article, neatly written __________________ A single smile can be a solution to several problems.:) www.adult.ec is for Sale! Why not make an Offer?

02-11-2005, 03:53 PM	#15 (permalink)
hotrod12 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 1,149	Good tutorial! Hope it prevents alot of people from getting hosting from companies who offer this.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)