What's your poinht about the unlimited bandwidth? Is it a real parameter ot just a trick? Can there be companies offering really unlimited solutions?
Unlimited is not possible in any aspect of life and there is nothing without limits. Unlimited is not possible because 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 space or bandwidth and you will find some restrictions after all nothing in the world is unlimited.
EyreWales is right. I saw many hosting companies offering unlimited bandwidth and even unlimited space but if you read their terms and conditions you will see that it is not unlimited at all. There are however data centers offering servers with unlimited bandwidth. These are really unlimited but it costs more.
There is no such thing as unlimited from datacenters either. I think you might be confusing unlimited with unmetered. There is certainly such a thing as unmetered bandwidth, but that is still certainly limited. I.e. 10mbps unmetered, 100mbps unmetered, etc. They don't care how much bandwidth you use, but you can't use more than the pipe you are given. That's where the limit comes into play.
Yes. Bandwidth can be unlimited(the correct word should be: unmetered). Un-metered=Set settigs of the hosting to not to count the bandwidth. But most of the companies offering Unlimited/Unmetered banwidth do have some Fair Use Polices. So, always use to have a deep look at the Terms of every web hosting company.
There is no such thing as unlimited. It is a marketing trick, the host is hoping that you wont use too much space/bandwith
The hosting company does not put any limitation to your bandwidth for an unlimited bandwidth plan. But they wont allow you to use more than 10$ of the system resources. You are free to use the bandwidth, the maximum possible there is no limitation.
I think it should be 10% or so, not 10$. It varies from company to company. Most of the companies of offer upto 8% only, while few are offering 10%.
Can they offer it - Yes! Can they provide it - Yes! Will they let you use it - not a chance! and I'm not confusing unlimited with unmetered.
Think about this for a moment. Do you have a unlimited budget? It's purely a marketing ploy. Some hosts use it as a way of enticing people to use their services. They make ridiculous claims and offers they could never really fulfill because they realize that the majority of people out there will never need or even use a fraction of the bw they are providing. The ones that do, get kicked to the curb. I used to love signing up for accounts like this from competitors just to abuse they hell out of their services. Unlimited is BS.
I totally agree with you unlimited doesnt exist if it were existing as it would have no end and as every thing has an end point there is no such thing as unlimited in practical as long u are not applying newtons law then nothing is unlimited
Sorry chaps, but it IS possible to offer it, and it IS possible to provide it, it's just that no host is going to let anyone use it as it will cost them too much. There will always be restrictions on what an individual can do on shared hosting in terms of resource use and how their actions affect other users on the same server. Most of these restrictions have been there for years (long before unlimited was even sparkle in anyone's eye) but they were rarely breached by the web sites of a few years ago which were largely HTML and weren't really a factor or concern for hosts. Web sites have changed enormously, and with the popularity of open-source applications, some dodgy plug-in code, and the fact that people want web applications to work like desktop applications, these resource-intensive sites are starting to hit the CPU/RAM/DISK limits that are being imposed. You might view it as a marketing ploy, but there's nothing sinister about a company saying you can use as much diskspace or data transfer (or bandwidth...if you must!) as you want, but on a shared server you musn't use more than your fair share of resouces such as CPU, Memory, or not upload files not directly used by your web site, or not upload video....or any other restriction that may apply. These clauses don't directly affect the customers ability to use as much diskspace or data transfer as they want. There's no getting away from the fact that if a site does get very popular then it may start to use up more and more of the servers resources, and it's at this point that a host may pull the plug. I also don't dispute the fact that some hosts will offer unlimited diskspace and transfer with no intention of providing but many host who offer it do mean it - as long as you don't break another clause in their contract. You can hardly blame a host if someone thinks unlimited means "do what you want" then proceeds to abuse the resources provided to the detriment of other users. So, it can be offered, it can be provided, its's just very very unlikely that a customer will be able to take advantage of it because at some point they are likely to exceed a restriction on their use of other resources. I'm not defending the "unlimited" brigade because I still think the way it's sold is not entirely upfront, but I don't see anything inherently dishonest about making the offer.
Okay Ron, So let's say I buy some unlimited plan for $4 per month. Are you telling me that they are going to allow me to use up the entire server's resources for disk space and bandwidth? We'll assume that I'm not violating any TOS, any CPU/RAM usage clauses, etc. So when I fill up the server's hard drive, are they going to keep putting more drives in the server just for me? When I fill that, maybe they'll just provision another server for me? How many servers will they let me use under this unlimited hosting? Will they let me use 10 servers all to myself? It's kinda funny that you think they would somehow allow that for $3 or $4 per month, especially considering that I'm paying $200+/mo for every dedicated server I use. You're just as silly as they are if you think they can actually offer unlimited hosting. It's a huge marketing ploy, because by-and-large, people are stupid. Most people out there don't realize (or care) how hosting works. They don't know how the hard drives work, how the bandwidth works, etc. They just see that X company is offering 10GB of space, where Y company is offering UNLIMITED. Wow!! Company Y must be much better. You get unlimited everything! Sooner or later, people will realize that unlimited hosting is not the way to go. Just browse around the forum here and you'll see how many people are dissatisfied with those companies, and looking to switch to new hosts. Ultimately, they'll get tired of changing hosts every couple months and find a decent host that doesn't scam people with unlimited everything, that doesn't oversell their servers, etc. Until then, good luck to those folks!
according to my understanding now a days unlimited bandwidth means the bandwidth which is more than the requirement of the plan which you have taken from your hosting company
You're kinda answering your questions yourself and making the case as to how it is possible to offer it and mean it, so I'm not sure what more I can add...but I'll try. Of course not, and anyone who thinks a host will allow this isn't thinking it through either or really understanding what's on offer. But you can't do that. I can assume all sorts of things - the moon is made of cheese, martians are blue, Wednesday follows Friday - but that doesn't mean they are true. As soon as you have to make assumptions then your argument doesn't hold water. Of course they won't, but that doesn't give your point of view any more credence. You've assumed you could do that without violating any of the Terms or Acceptable Use, and there's no way on this earth you do that without violating them. I don't consider myself silly, or particularly impractical, but I do know it is possible to offer unlimited hosting (diskspace and transfer/bandwidth) and I know it is simple to provide. If you can't see that, then you haven't put enough thought into it. I used to hold the view that it's impossible to provide. Then I was asked to do a paper on how offering unlimited diskspace and transfer would be possible in the UK. The UK has some very strong consumer protection legislation so my argument in it's favour had to be within the current law. Once I spent some time looking at it, I realized most arguments against it came from the wrong perspective and concluded that it was very simple to truly offer AND provide it. While I won't deny there's an element of marketing involved, it's not the only reason. The focus of concerns for hosting companies has changed over the years. It's still very much a case of how many sites can be placed on a server whilst maintaining optimum (not necessarily fastest) performance, but how this is acheived in now different. At a time when disk sizes were only a few GB and RAID was so expensive it was almost prohibitive, disk space usage was a genuine concern for hosts. This was kinda tempered by the fact that most sites were just HTML with a tiny bit of javascript. Now, massive diskspace is simple, bandwidth is cheaper, and most web sites are dynamic using PHP, ASP, or ASP.NET. These new sites present a different type of challenge to the host. It's still about sites-per-server, but now the limiting factor is the server resources of CPU, RAM, Disk I/O rather than diskspace. Diskspace and bandwidth use are now a secondary concern when it comes to optimized performance, although their costs are never ignored. So, you have a high opinion of hosting customers? I'm sure your own clients will be delighted you hold that view of them Can't argue with that, but just because they don't realize that's how it works hardly makes them stupid. Hosting is a complicated technical business that can seem a bit esoteric to customers. They don't need to know how it works because the technical aspects of hosting and how disparate systems are put together to provide a service shouldn't concern most of them (there are always some who are interested in the technical aspects). What most hosting customers want are reliability, performance, good service, ease-of-use, and a fair price - pretty much in that order. They don't care about how hard we need to work to make that possible and how these vary so much between hosts. It's human nature to want more for less. Who can blame people if they select one host offering more over another for the same price. They don't know there may be a world of difference in how well the host performs it's duties, but whose job is it to educate them on how to judge the differences? If you do a search on "how to choose a host" there are tons of them. Most of them are well-meaning but ultimately pointless as they don't teach what really counts. They say things like "make sure you have diskspace, email acocunts, FTP, and support" and that's about it. How is someone supposed to make a valid decision based on these factors alone? The fact that the focus for hosts has changed but the way people buy hosting hasn't can't be laid entirely at the feet of hosting companies. Neither can consumers be blamed for not understanding the many technical challenges and decisions that REALLY need to made when making a comparison between hosts. I don't understand electronics, and I don't know what goes into making a TV, so I have to base my decision on the "features" that are obvious and on display (no pun intended!). Does that make me stupid? No, just uninformed about what really counts. I have to base my decision on some form of comparative feature that is available to me in a language I understand - screen size, price, resolution etc, not the nitty gritty about quality of components and how they are manufactured. I agree, and don't agree. There's nothing wrong with unlimited, but the problem is people are not understanding what "unlimited" means. Some people say it is being confused with "unmetered", but that isn't the case. I'd say the biggest misunderstanding is that people read "unlimited" as being the same as "unrestricted". There may be no restrictions on how much disk space is being used, or how much bandwidth is being used (they are unlimited - or without a limit) but there are restrictions on what you can place on the disk, or max file sizes, or they type of files, what the files relate to, how many concurrent visitors are allowed, or how much of another resource (CPU, RAM, Disk I/O, shared or network connection bandwdith) can be used, how many inodes can be used - all sorts of restrictions - and these can impact on the ability to use the unlimited diskspace or transfer. While many see these restrictions as the host protecting themselves it's not just about that, it's about protecting other users of the system from being affected by a single user who wants to use more than their fair share of these other resources, that they are all paying for. I'd wager to bet that many people who are dissatisfied with their previous unlimited host is because they misunderstood that unlimited does not mean unrestricted use of a server. Of course they will. Finding a good, reliable host is what it's all about. Ah! You're making assumptions again. Not all hosts who offer unlimited are scamming people. I'll admit that there are too many less than savoury hosts out there whose sole interest is $$$$$ and don't give a monkeys about reliability, performance, service, or fair treatment. But there are excellent hosts out there who are good at what they do. My gripe about "unlimited" is not the offer, but the way the offer is presented. Most companies offering it make a big thing about the "unlimited" without warning customers that other factors may affect performance and that they must carefully read the Terms or Acceptable Use Policy to see what restrictions will apply. What's even worse is hosts who don't specify what these restrictions are, they just put it under a general "fair use" clause that doesn't define what fair use is, leaving it open to genuine abuse. You're painting overselling as being something that all hosts offering unlimited space do. You might argue that if you offer unlimited space then you must be overselling, but that's missing the point about offering unlimited space in the first place and what that means. There's nothing wrong with overselling, and you are confusing overselling (not a bad thing) with overloading (a bad thing). Bad hosts do overloaded their servers and these are usually the new companies, those with a single servers, and those who only care about the bucks being earned and to hang with everything else. Overselling is a legitimate business process used by the vast majority of businesses, overloading is not. Anyway, enough said. I don't expect you to agree, and I haven't touched on how it is simple to offer and provide unlimited diskspace and transfer, but that's another arguement for another day.
Well, I had a nice big reply here, and the damn forum timed out and deleted it. Argh!! In any event, you still have no idea what you're talking about. If a company has to limit you by their TOS, then they are not providing you unlimited hosting. It's like going to McDonalds, them saying that you can eat an unlimited amount of hamburgers, and then telling you after eating 2 that you violated their terms, and can eat no more. If they do that for every client, they are not providing unlimited hamburgers and they know it. That makes it a scam. It makes it false advertising. I have tried many times to test companies' unlimited services, and for some unknown reason (heh) they won't allow me to do it. As a test, I am looking to upload terabytes and terabytes of 14mp photos, access them from the website via a photo gallery, and simply transfer hundreds of terabytes of data. Photos would almost definitely not violate any TOS. There would be no excessive CPU usage most likely, no excessive RAM usage, but none of the "unlimited" companies will allow me to do it. Why won't they put 50TB+ of storage into a server and let me use it all? Maybe because it would cost them thousands of dollars, and I would only be paying $3/mo? Hmmmmmm...not very unlimited if you ask me. Head on over to a real web hosting forum, that covers nothing but hosting (i.e. webhostingtalk) and see what they say about unlimited hosting. There is not a major company or datacenter out there who thinks that it's actually possible to offer unlimited hosting. They know it isn't possible, but the naive people looking for hosting (yes, stupid was a bad choice of words on my behalf) just don't know any better. No, I'm not confusing them at all. With overselling, you are banking on the fact that the clients will not use what you are offering them at any given time, thus you can cram more people onto a server than the resources you can physically offer. To me (and many other good web hosting companies out there), that makes the server overloaded. How? If the clients all decided to use their resources at once, they would not be able to do it. The loads would go through the roof (typically the first sing of an overloaded server, no?), the disk space would be exhausted, and the server unable to provide the necessary bandwidth to the users. That is overloaded. Another great example of how oversold=overloaded is in VPS servers. Let's say you have a dedicated server with 16GB of RAM. We're going to assume for our purposes that there is no server overhead, and all 16GB of RAM are going to be used for client VPS accounts. You then load the server with 32 people, each having a 1GB of RAM account. You have oversold the server 2:1. You have allocated twice as many resources than you physically have available on the server. It's possible to run a server like this (and in fact, some companies do it day-in and day-out), but if/when the clients all use their 1GB of RAM at once, the server will cease to function. It will slow to a crawl, and be extraordinarily overloaded. So what again am I not understanding? Yes, oversold does indeed equal overloaded. It absolutely IS a bad thing, and you're mistaken if you think the majority of businesses use that method. Yes, plenty do. A legitimate business practice? Eh...not in my opinion. If you have to run your business hoping that the clients don't actually use what you are offering them, that's not any way to handle things.
OK, take a jibe if you want, but just because you're not able to use it as a client doesn't mean it isn't possible to provide it. The reason it can't be used is because other factors come into play, and these are going to stop it being used. Doesn't mean you can't offer it. But, I find it a bit odd that two people who seem to be dead set against the idea of unlimited, offer unlimited aspects to their hosting plans. Seems to be some twisted logic there.