How can web hosts get away with claiming "unlimited bandwidth" then putting cap on it

I am currently with Cirtex and they claim unlimited bandwidth, yet when I had a video on my site get picked up on some social bookmarking sites, it received about 30k visitors and I had the message:

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.

Seems like a lot of web hosting companies do this. How do they get away with this?

 

They got your business didn't they? its a marketing scheme and works well sadly, I would just email/get in contact with them and ask for your account to be re activated. If they say no. then I would prob suggest choosing a host that has a higher bandwidth cap at least.

 

When have you heard of a unlimited harddrive? Theres no such thing, but this is what gets people in

 

I guess it's not going to stop until someone with little patience for this practice, and enough money to do something about it, takes one of these companies to court and the hosting company loses. In most cases people who really need high levels of bandwidth just move on without causing a fuss, and the host continues with the huge number of sites that use virtually no resources at all. Since no-one can truly offer unlimited bandwidth or disk space for a few bucks per month, the host is playing a percentage game and getting rid of the big users without consequence.

 

Have you checked their TOS at bottomline about Unlimited term? I think it could be better if you would have check their bottomlined TOS before you buy hosting from them.

Yes, their is no unlimited Hard Drive. So the Web Hosting companies claim for Unlimited but with limit of iNode numbers.

 

Its due to their bandwidth is exhausted.

Other than that reason they have imposed such as your video can only be access by X number of people simultaneously.

 

They get away with it because it's in the terms and conditions which most people don't read. Best thing to do is avoid any hosts that have 'unlimited' anything.

 

Avoid such companies and make sure you read the TOS of the company before you use their services.

 

Make sure you read full terms and conditions, normally they mentioned that you can use hosting for videos, heavy files, etc.

 

A lot of companies offer unlimited and unmetered bandwidth. That does not mean it is unlimited. It simply means you get enough bandwidth. They assume that you won't use too much space and bandwidth. Also, they don;t track the usage (unmetered).

 

Their T&Cs state:

So hence your problems

In the UK I am sure that they would be considered to have misleading marketing as there is no "small text" on the advert itself or info in the ? button to say it is web only. In the USA I don't know if you have an equivilent governmental body that protects consumer rights that you can complain to.

 

If you didn't already know, there is no such thing as unlimited bandwidth. People new to world of paying to have their sites hosted fall into this trap all the time.

 

It can be Unlimited, if the limit is recycled. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.

 

Speaking virtually, yes you are right! Although I prefer to say it is "unmetered" instead of "unlimited"

 

Yes I do agree with you. It is unmetered.

Unmetered & Unlimited have several differences.
To be said more frankly nothing is unlimited.

 

Most of the hosting companies promise to offer unlimited bandwidth but it is not possible for them. It is a marketing strategies to attract clients.

 

Such as? Will you mind to point out some?

 

Have to agree once again, There is no such thing as unlimited, If i see someone say they got unlimited diskspace you just have to reply "do you have a unlimited harddrive?" and then "can i host my 3355822845734732372TB file on it"

 

If you check properly the TOS of the hosts, then you will get the iNode limits. That iNode numbers limits you by space.

 

Yes, many "crafty" shared hosting providers are starting to apply max inode usage on their terms. It's bad for non-geek users (which 90% of shared hosters are) who dont even understand about how inode works.