Unlimited web hosting can mean different things to different people, here are a few tips to give you a clearer understanding about using web hosts that claim they are unlimited.
For anyone that is not aware this can mean that you have an infinite amount of space, server load and bandwidth.
When a web host suggests to you that they have “unlimited” space or bandwidth available if you just sign on with them, perhaps you should raise your eyebrows just a little, and start asking a few questions.
It could well be that “unlimited” means something very different to you than it means to that web host company. And if the difference in meaning is too broad, it could end up costing you a fair bit of money, unexpectedly.
Web Hosting and Bandwidth
Be careful about claims to unlimited bandwidth. This refers to the bytes that transfer from your site to a visitor’s browser when they access your website, or loosely speaking, the term addresses the amount of traffic your pages are getting. In an ideal universe, everyone would have unlimited traffic, but the fact is that your web host has to pay for the bandwidth.
However, even if the offer of unlimited bandwidth is genuine, the problem of limited resources would probably hit you first. Certain types of websites use more resources than others.
For example, if you’re running something like WordPress or other blogging scripts, or a content management system like Drupal, the scripts that hold your page together can use a significant amount of the available CPU resources on the host server. Especially if you have a high traffic site.
Another aspect with a shared server is that you are sharing it with sometimes hundreds of other sites all on the same ip address and hosting server. This can present problems by simply having one site on that server that is using to many of the server resources this can either slow the performance of your website, meaning load speed or the worst case scenario crash the hosting server.
Web hosting companies like HostGator are very fast to correct the problem and will usually ask the offending website to upgrade their account to a larger host plan with more dedicated resources to host their site or they will may just suspend the offending site to stop the other sites on that hosting account from being affected.
Knowing The Server Resources Will Help You Understand Server Load
Another resource limitation is the RAM, which is the temporary memory that stores your site’s data and scripts while they’re performing their tasks. The RAM available on a server is a fixed amount. If you are on a shared server with other websites, you’re all trying to access that finite amount of RAM, and it could limit your site’s activity before anything like bandwidth would do so.
Why Unlimited Disk Space Is Nothing More Than A Marketing Strategy
Unlimited disk space is also likely more of a red herring than anything else. It’s true that disk space has some role to play in what sort of hosting plan you sign up for, since simple, static HTML pages will take less space than graphic-heavy pages. You will certainly need enough space for all the pages you have, with room for future expansion.
The reason that unlimited disk space isn’t as crucially important as other things is much the same as for unlimited bandwidth: these numbers are almost a distraction from the more important concern of the host server’s own resources. And even static HTML pages can build up the CPU cycles or create a problem with RAM if there is a sudden spike in traffic to your site.
It’s not that disk space and bandwidth can be ignored as you plan where to host your site. But you need to be aware of possible resource limits too, and what they could cost you. You don’t want to find yourself with a huge, unexpected bill on your hands when you thought you had paid for an “unlimited” plan. Nothing is infinite and especially the computer resources of your web hosting server.
For anyone wanting to have full control of their website hosting then we highly recommend using HostGator, they offer some very affordable plans and the tech support is 24/7.
Or for more business orientated people you can use our hosting service which is on a very powerful dedicated server with HostGator where we will manage all aspects of your hosting for you, leaving you to run your day to day business without any of the hassles or headaches associated with website hosts. Web hosting is only available to clients who use our web design or marketing packages.
Bravo Ron. All small business owners need to read this. I have a client who fell victim to this. They got hacked and called the hosting company to restore it from a backup. There was no backup because they said they had exceeded their space so had turned off backups, yet the package they were on said there was “unlimited storage space.” I went to their site to check it out and that claim had an asterisk by it. I followed the asterisk down 2 other pages before I got to their disclaimer which said they determined how much space a small business needs and they get “unlimited” space within that norm.
Hi Kathy
Yes this is something many people just do not understand about hosting. Even here in Australia many small business owners will opt for a cheaper hosting solution only to find further down the road that it is going to cost them much more money to either move to a more efficient host or upgrade their existing hosting.
When I set up a new client for hosting I always inquire about what they initially want to achieve as well as future expectations, this can give me a very good insight as to where we need to start. All my hosting is set for back-ups and every new site is completely cloned once finished and launched so there is always a backup if any mishaps occur.
I do the same thing Ron. I moved that client to a more reliable host who does daily backups and I also instruct my client on how to do their own. What we need to educate these business owners on, is the fact that their online presence comes with a cost just like their brick and mortar business. They need to ask themselves what they could expect if they were only paying $5.95 per month for their building.
Yes Kathy you are right. So many people launch a website using the cheapest means possible without realising how powerful it can be for improving not only market exposure but their bottom line.
However with so much misinformation as well as competition for clients it is hard to get them to see the light.
As an example I lost a client that I had for more than two years simply because he had a friend who claimed he had extensive knowledge in web design and marketing (30 Years To Be Exact). This client then passed on the report I had created to revamp his business website to his friend who said he could do everything I had listed including a mobile response theme for the site.
However at the end of the day my ex-client ended up paying for a website that was sub standard riddled with duplicate content and to top it off the web designer left code in the meta section of the site making it nofollow, noindex so the site suffered badly and he lost most of his rankings in the first two weeks the site went live.
After receiving an email from him complaining that my plan was wrong and it had destroyed his business I decided to tell him why it had happened which was the meta tags that were added. As well as none of the old pages of the site being redirected to the new.
And you know the worst thing about it all Kathy, this client paid twice as much as I had quoted, and ended up with a site that was worse than the one he upgraded from.
I do not know the answer to this but all we do is can keep trying to educate people like this by being open and honest.