What Does a Web Host Mean by Unlimited Bandwidth?
What do we mean by bandwidth? I am not referring to bandwidth in terms of the data transmission rate in bits per second, which is actually the correct definition of the term. What I am talking about mainly is bandwidth measuring the amount of total data (bits) that is transmitted.
The misuse of the word bandwidth got started due to the fact that you are provided with a certain number of Gigabytes on a monthly basis with most hosting packages. Maybe some thought this was the equivalent of bandwidth.
Bandwidth refers to data transfer rate. It refers to a certain speed of data transfer. Unlimited bandwidth would actually mean infinite speed when data was transferred. Such a thing doesn’t exist.
What most hosting companies are referring to as bandwidth in terms of their reseller and shared hosting accounts is actually data transfer and not data transfer rate. For example when they state 5 GB of bandwidth, they mean that you will be allowed 5 GB of data transfer in a month. This is the amount of data you are allowed to consume or use not the speed at which it can be or will be transmitted.
Unlimited bandwidth is one of the more sensitive as well as controversial issues when it comes to web hosting. Some web hosting companies offer unlimited bandwidth with their hosting plans. What is really mind boggling is that it is offered for a fixed price.
Selling something as unlimited is extreme overselling, no matter what you happen to be selling. There isn’t anything in the world that is unlimited.
Companies defend themselves by saying how they don’t try to prevent users from consuming an unlimited amount of data transfer. However that would be unmetered bandwidth.
Unmetered bandwidth is OK if you are renting a server with a connection of 10 mbit/second that you don’t share with anyone else. However, it’s not ok when you’re talking about reseller or shared hosting.
When you are renting a whole server, it’s fine if you max out the connection. However if you are on a shared server you are competing with other websites on the server. You will never enjoy the entire 10mbit connection.
In addition there is contented bandwidth. You may be sold on a server that has a 10 mbit connection that comes with unmetered bandwidth. 15 other people may be sold the same. However, the seller doesn’t possess a 150 mb connection, rather he has one that is 100 mbit connection. In other words he is overselling. Hosting is a tricky business.
The reality of the situation is that the hidden policy for most companies offering unlimited bandwidth is that they either close accounts that use over a certain GB per month, or the resources abuse clause is used for suspending the user’s account.
Even though these offers state “unlimited bandwidth,” it won’t be delivered and web hosting companies know this. Everyone else needs to know that from the start too. The network physically has a limited speed when it comes to transmission. Hosting companies can only send a certain number of GB per month.
Unlimited data transfer and bandwidth don’t exist and can’t ever truly be delivered, despite the fact that they are offered. It is all hype and marketing.
Many times the initial offer reads as “unlimited” but if you carefully read their terms of service it turns into “limited.” There will often be a point at which the hosting company reserves their right to stop data transfer for your hosting (suspend your account) if your bandwidth (actually data transfer) should exceed your unlimited value of, for example 20GB during a certain month. In my opinion, this is barely legal. However it’s hard to prove they are trying be deceptive.
I read one time where someone signed up for a hosting account that had unlimited bandwidth. One day he got an email asking that he upgrade his account because he had reached the “unlimited” limit.
I have participated in discussions on hosting forums with hosting company owners offering unlimited bandwidth. Some of us were asking some questions. One time it came up that although the host stated no limit on their website they were using a monthly data transfer in-house limit of 10GB while at the same time advertising it as “unlimited.” On the forum the owner actually argued that their customers didn’t complain and some of them had multiple accounts with “unlimited bandwidth.”
To summarize, it is impossible physically to achieve what is called unlimited bandwidth. Maybe extreme amounts, but not unlimited.
When I see unlimited bandwidth being advertised it’s a bad sign. It may be good from a marketing standpoint for attracting innocent and maybe even ignorant clients. However, for clients who are educated, it’s a definite no no.
Personally I avoid unlimited bandwidth. I understand overselling to a point, but overselling to the point of unlimited bandwidth is extreme.
I want to know what exactly I am getting. I expect numbers for things like bandwidth, web space and other features of web hosting. Level of customer support is one thing that can’t be exactly expressed in numbers. I look for customer reviews for that.
There are other features that are offered as unlimited on hosting accounts as well. One is unlimited space. Web space, just like bandwidth, is limited. When it comes to hard disks they have limited capacities. Hosts offering unlimited space could argue that more hard disks could be added whenever necessary. However space will always be limited. Responsible and smart hosting companies don’t advertise or offer unlimited bandwidth or space.
Once definitions for space and bandwidth limits have been defined, other unlimiteds are fairly acceptable and standard practice. Things like unlimited email accounts, FTP accounts and databases are acceptable due to they fact that the host doesn’t limit them. They are based on how much space you purchased. Each account needs space. Unlimited email accounts means how many accounts you are able to create given the amount of space on your account.
Just a few years ago budget hosting for $8 a month would give your data transfer of 40-50 GB a month. Now you can get data transfer of 3000-5000 GB for the same amount of money or even less. That isn’t ten times more, it is 100 times more. Most of the increase has been fueled by overselling. Costs have gone down and technology has improved, but not by anywhere near those magnitudes. Just data transfer allocations would cost $300 at least, and that doesn’t even include things like advertising, customer support and disk space.
Budget hosts didn’t have a choice. They chose to get into this market and leaving isn’t really an option if your customers are constantly looking to find the best deal. They all seem to just go with the flow.
Pretty soon they will be calling all of it unlimited. It’s not really a big surprise. That is where it’s all headed. It all comes down to the CPU usage and its relation to how much you pay. The big hosts don’t need to prevent customers from using up all the data transfer because they have plenty that isn’t used. However they can’t give an entire server away for only $8 a month. When a site bogs the server down, it has to go. That is where the line gets drawn and limits eventually the amount of data transfer customers are able to push.
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