The dirt on unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth |
  (+7 rating, 9 votes) Loading ... |
While looking for a suitable web hosting provider for your website, you may have stumbled upon web hosts offering unlimited disk space and/or bandwidth as part of their hosting package. These unlimited web hosting deals are hard to pass on right? Let me explain to you what unlimited web hosting really is.
So I went to BestBuy the other day and bought a hard drive with unlimited space for my computer and now I don’t ever have to worry about running out of disk space again!
No one would ever believe the above statement right? But when a web hosting provider claims they offer an unlimited amount of disk space people are easily suckered in. Why is this? Maybe they think that web hosts have access to futuristic hardware that a regular consumer doesn’t have access to.
Best case scenario example: let’s say the web host uses servers with 10 hard drives at 1TB each. This brings the available disk space to 10TB. Yes 10TB….that is a lot…but it still isn’t Unlimited TB. The thing is, it’s physically impossible to offer unlimited disk space. I can guarantee you that no web hosting company will let you monopolize its disk resources.
Let’s take a look at the Terms of Service of some popular unlimited web hosting companies(these are real companies with names removed). They are very tricky when it comes to what you can use their service for:
===========
xyzCompany will not tolerate any form of storage space abuse. At least 90% of YOUR web pages (”HTML”) must be ‘linked’ with files (GIF, JPEG, etc.) stored on xyzCompany servers. Website that are found to contain either/or no HTML documents, a large number of unlinked files are subject to files deletion or account cancelation at the discretion of xyzCompany with or without prior notice.
xyzCompany reserve the rights to terminate any account found to contain file streaming such as audio, radio and video streams (AVI, MPG, MPEG, MOV, MP3, PODCASTS, etc)
If YOU do not qualify for the unlimited service, disk space will go unmonitored until YOU reach the amount allocated to YOUR specific web hosting plan (”PLAN”). Thereafter, normal website data storage costs $0.20/1MB/month will be billed to YOUR account. If you want to pre-pay for disk space overages, you will be billed $0.10/1MB/month.
===========
Basically what they are saying here is unless your website is 90% HTML and images you will have unlimited disk space. Otherwise, you are only allowed to use xyz amount of disk space and bandwidth.
Another very popular ToS clause is the server resource monopolization clause. This basically states that if a user is abusing server resources (RAM and CPU time), the account will be automatically suspended. So if you have a website with any amount of decent traffic, your website will be terminated. If your accounts starts to use up too much disk space or bandwidth, they will simply say you are abusing server resources and give you the boot.
In conclusion, it is impossible for a web hosting company to offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space because it is physically impossible to do so. Disk space costs money and bandwidth costs money; it’s as simple as that. These unlimited web hosting companies are using phony marketing tactics to lore you in.
Jul 19th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
The dirt on Unlimited web hosting providers…
This is a great post on how its imposssible to offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth as a legit web hosting service….
Sep 24th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
well to be honest it is halfway possible to have unlimited if they keep adding more space and bandwidth for you never to exceed as long a they are keeping a close eye on your stats and keep the ds and bw above that amount to you it really would be unlimited, but i do see what you mean about actually unlimited of course thats not possible.
Oct 14th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I cannot stress enough how important it is to research your web host before you sign up. I know from very bad experience and from 100s of other victims contacting me.
I agree totally that they cannot possibly offer unlimited anything. If they do, stay away!
Oct 17th, 2008 at 4:37 am
all those offers are only created from the view of marketing aspects. you cant give unlimited services on servers who have physical limits? this is impossible.
i prefer those hosting companys who play with open cards. There you know what you get. This is much better than not knowing your REAL limits.
Oct 17th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Some web hosting companies do have unlimited space… because they have supercow powers!!!!
Isn’t that great?
Nov 18th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I think unlimited disque space mean unreachable limit. And if we gather all existing web sites (world wide web sites) we will have x TB data that we can store in a hard disk of (x+ TB), the question is if this hard disk exist?? I think YES. who said more?
Dec 13th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I’ve seen this crap before on many ‘unlimited’ hosts. I know this is never going to happen, but literally, it should be illegal to do that. It’s false advertising.
Dec 16th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Whats funny is it lists the formats of the streaming media in which they can terminate you for.. what if you create your own format, then you can sue them lol, i love when companies get their own fine print and false advertisments turned back around on them because thats how anything misleading should be…
David Leonard – Tampa Bay Freelance Web Design
Dec 20th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Instead of paying for those unlimited scam hosts you’re better off using a free host.
Mar 2nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
@vendetta
most of the free hosts have very lousy bandwith, usually annoying ads, tons of restrictions, poor support, and lousy uptime so I wouldn’t go as far as to say do that.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I think this is most important topic. The space, how much space we need etc..
Unlimited Disk Space should be utilized for active and valid websites. Unlimited Disk Space is not a storage haven for files, audio, video, zip, archives, or items that are not related to legitimate website hosting. Unlimited Disk Space is specifically provided as a feature to allow website owners the flexibility of maintaining a volume or collection of files that are active on a website. If you are a website owner that operates a website with massive storage needs for serving up files, images, and multimedia content the unlimited hosting plan has been designed for you.
Jul 16th, 2009 at 8:50 am
To get a good understanding of bandwidth see the post I wrote at work – unlimited bandwidth is just as impossible as unlimited space and every bit as much a con on the part of the providers that offer it.
Jul 31st, 2009 at 5:07 am
I have to say that this is an eye opener for me. I never thought about it this way. I am fortunately not to be using a plan that gives me “unlimited” webspace. I think that if you get a hosting plan that gives you
» 15000 MB Space » 300 GB Data Transfer » 3 Domains » 100 E-mail accounts
you have more than enough resources to cope with 99,9% of all hosting requirements.
I mean to say, if you need more than 300 GB data transfer you have a huge money maker and you should be able to get yourself a dedicated server for that matter.
I love the 0bones idea as many people starting out does not have the foresight or the budget or the need to go the paid-website-way.
Aug 19th, 2009 at 5:31 am
I agree totally that they cannot possibly offer unlimited anything. If they do, stay away!
Aug 22nd, 2009 at 10:13 am
the most of the freehoster are not good. normal webhosting is very cheap. free hosting is for me only to test something.