Unlimited Bandwidth in Web Hosting
May 15, 2008
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 their computer. If a 100 users view that page one time each 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 its 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, providing audio/video downloads, as well as being very popular then you would certainly require a huge amount of bandwidth. Lets say you have a video file that is 150 MB in size and in a single day a 100 visitors download the file. This means that 15 GB of bandwidth will have been used. If you multiply that by 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.
Its absolutely true, you can have unlimited bandwidth. However, you will need an unlimited amount of money by your side! Jokes apart, if you ever come across such a host it would be best to turn around and run back the way you came from.
Just think, if you can get unlimited bandwidth for $25-30 a month then why arent big companies like Sun, Microsoft etc. not hosted there? In fact, why isn't everyone hosted there? For that matter, if unlimited is a standard feature then why dont all the hosts offer it? Is it because it is expensive and requires better hardware? No, its because some hosts are honest and dont give in to such gimmicks.
Statistically speaking, a T1 Internet connection (huge broadband) equals approximately 500GB per month and costs around $1200 per month. So how can it be possible to get the same or unlimited for $30 a month?
There are a lot of ways you can be duped by these unlimited hosts; here are just a few of them:
The secret of unlimited is actually buried in the Terms of Service by 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 more downloads thereby resulting in higher bandwidth consumption. So if there are no files of this type, your site wont really require a lot of bandwidth.
Some newly opened hosts use it as 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 altogether.
In life its a universal truth that you always get what you pay for, and its 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.
Ashish Jain
M6.Net Web Helpers
http://www.m6.net
Unlimited Web Hosting? You’d Better Read the Fine Print Before Signing Up For It
OK, so unlimited hosting sounds tempting. And if you operate a number of small business websites, you probably ought to consider some of the options for unlimited multiple domain hosting. But before you sign up you'd better examine all the details of...
"Unlimited" and The Web Hosting Industry
A number of web hosts in recent years have started advertising "unlimited" disk space, or "unlimited" transfer. As people became more and more aware that this was effectively impossible to offer, they changed it to "unmetered", which in the majority ...
Why Ignoring the Unlimited Hosting Plan is the Smart Way to Go
Anyone in the market for a Web site host has certainly come across a hosting company offering unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space as part of their hosting packages. How do they do this? How physically, can they offer unlimited disk space w...
How to Choose Best Hosting Provider?
You should do a web host review, before you make a choice. The problem online today is, how can you make a sound web host review with all the thousands out there.It is impossible to review the thousands of web host out there, but it is in your best i...
Web Hosting - What to Look for?
Web Hosting Options: Shared Hosting or Dedicated Server?To decide whether you would opt for shared or dedicated servers could be one of the important decisions you'll ever make. To decide the best platform or hosting environment will be suited for yo...
Web Hosting Myths: Three Things You Need to Know Before Choosing a Host
The internet is full of web hosting offers, but unfortunately, many popular hosts are using unscrupulous advertising to mislead their customers and set them up for problems. If you are looking for a host for your web site, read this article to learn ...
A Guide to Low Cost Web Hosting
Web hosting is a service that allocates space for customers to have their websites on computer servers. Servers are powerful computers that have large hard drives or array of hard drives. Each server on Internet has a unique IP (Internet Protocol) ad...
Cheap ASP Hosting
The type of ASP Hosting that you get always depends on how much you are willing to pay for the service. If anything comes for free or for a low cost, then you usually have to compromise. Cheap ASP hosting is also available, but the features that you ...
Affordable Website Hosting - Can’t Get Better Than Dirt Cheap
Can you afford to buy yourself a burger, a fries and a coke once a month?Then you can afford to host a website on the internet.Wait a minute. Strike that.You can afford to host ten websites on the internet.That's right.Here in 2007, the business of w...
Low Cost Web Hosting
Web hosting means giving out space on a web server to people who wish to make their own websites, or simply require web space to put in some information. This web space can be given to individuals, organizations or even other small-scale web hosts.Un...