How do you see "Unlimited Hosting" ?

[Steve-Hostirian]

For end users that host with web hosting providers offering unlimited space and bandwidth, have you ever wondered how many shared accounts these providers stack on each of their servers? Probably not if your site is always up, but if you have a problem, could be the CPU and RAM resources on the server your account resides on is being sliced too thin.

Will that provider tell you how many accounts they divvy per server? Probably NOT. There’s no industry standard, but my guess would be between 100 to 600, with an average around 300. I’ve heard estimates over one thousand though.

Cost Analysis

Doing a sample cost analysis – if your provider is leasing a dedicated server from a data center for $179/month, that cost plus overhead like support and backup add up to their overall cost to maintain that server. Let’s say it’s roughly $275/month (hard and soft dollar expense). In this scenario, charging $3.95/month for unlimited space and bandwidth, a provider could break even at roughly 70 accounts.

But wait!

What about costs to acquire clients, employee payroll, vacations, health care, liability insurance, taxes, bandwidth overage charges and so on? Being conservative, this could drive that cost to $500 or higher. Have you checked recently what it costs to bid on keywords with Google Adwords?

Some specs

A Quad Core Server with 2GB RAM should be able to host 200 accounts (depends). Most dedicated servers share 100Mbps uplink ports, so the maximum bandwidth of all accounts combined cap out at 33 terabytes. Let’s see – 33 terabytes divided by 300 users equals an average of 0.11 terabytes per account (110GB).

But wait, that’s the maximum transfer!

Most data centers only include up to 10Mbs bandwidth in that $179.00/month lease. Hmm … if we factor in included bandwidth, now we’re looking at 3.3 terabytes divided by 300, or 11GB per user. Sure, most static sites will never use more than 11GB bandwidth monthly, but if you have a growing site, and start using resources beyond these specs, your account will normally get flagged for termination.

Looking at unlimited from another angle

Let’s look at this from a different angle. Most dedicated servers are spec’d with 80 to 250GB SATA hard drives. Divide 250GB by 300 accounts. Hmm … that’s 833MB each. Of course, the average size of sites is much lower than 833MB, but should your site exceed this threshold, what happens? Does your provider’s unlimited policy kick in, allowing you to have more of someone else’s resources on that server. I think NOT. Again, your account will probably get flagged for termination. OUCH.

Why should you opt for plans with limits versus unlimited

First, plans with published space and bandwidth limits are a known quantity to measure against, versus some vague policy of CPU and RAM allocation left to the providers discretion. This allows you to match the resources you anticipate using versus those offered. More often than not, if your unlimited account is terminated for exceeding these provider’s usage policies, you’ll also lose your data (unless you’re doing remote backups), plus risk losing your clients. How valuable is your site to your business?

Web hosting expense from a business perspective

Price comparing the $4/month unlimited plan to a $7 limited plan (let’s say 10GB space and 2TB bandwidth) – seems disproportionate on the surface ($48/year versus $84). If I’m an end user posting an informational site for my non-profit, that $36 variance might make a difference. But if I’m a business, that $36 wouldn’t cover one hour of downtime, or the loss of one prospect or client. As a business owner myself, I’ll take some risks test marketing, but web sites are an extension of who and what you are as a business. When ad space alone can cost a few hundred dollars, by comparison, unlimited web hosting plans seem closely related to unlimited risks.

[proweb]

"Unlimited" is only a marketing word! You never get unlimited space at all, but you will get more and more if you need...

Be careful with unlimited, because only the space and bandwidth are "unlimited" stuffs, the CPU and memory are very limited, and you can wake up on morning with a temporary closed account.

[vectro]

Originally Posted by Sneakyheathen

I have unlimited hosting with Dreamhost and so far so good. There are a couple of slow loading times a month, though, which irritates me. But the service is good and I can regularly access my email and stuff.

Those slow loading times are probably because of overselling and their server's CPU and RAM are overloaded. Your site survives on a server like that because it probably don't use excessive amounts of bandwidth, but once it does they may come up with some reason to suspend or cancel your account. One common thing is hosts like that have policies saying "We reserve the right to cancel your account at any time for any reason, etc." When hosts set limits, then the buyer knows what the limits are and what overages will cost.

Originally Posted by Hyperion

no she can have unlimited on her control panel but they know that the server that they provide has limits.

Right, CPU/RAM/Disk/Bandwidth are all limited for everyone. If anything where truly unlimited then every host would offer 'unlimited'. The only legitimate way around this is to offer 'unmetered' service which is different. Hosts can use Apache modules such as mod_bandwidth or mod_bw along with Apache/PHP caps on memory and CPU limits on a per-account basis. They will also allocate X amount of speed (like 128k/sec.) to an account. That way they don't have to monitor it, it just slows down if it gets busy without affecting other sites on the shared server. There are also unmetered dedicated servers like this. Remember, there are two different ways to use the word 'bandwidth': 1) amount of data transferred 2) transfer speed.

Originally Posted by Steve-Hostirian

Those restrictions are typically caps on your use of CPU and RAM resources on their server. Long before you start using excessive amounts of bandwidth, those caps will trigger suspensions or terminations of your account.

There are definitely ways to configure a Linux server like that. There are always caps one way or another.

Originally Posted by G.C. Admin

The majority of clients are like deers at night. THey see a car coming and the headlights hypotize them. They just stand there and end up getting hit.

The same concept for oversellers they blind the client with big numbers concerning storage and transfer. Then BANG you get hit by the TOS.

Buying Hosting at the cost of a Happy Meal. Will get you every time.

Happy Meal Hosting its every where!!!

From now on that should be the new term that everyone uses for hosts like that - Happy Meal Hosting.

Originally Posted by proweb

"Unlimited" is only a marketing word! You never get unlimited space at all, but you will get more and more if you need...

Be careful with unlimited, because only the space and bandwidth are "unlimited" stuffs, the CPU and memory are very limited, and you can wake up on morning with a temporary closed account.

I have been buying and selling hosting since the mid 1990's and this concept was around then and is still around. It seems that it will never stop as long as consumers are unaware. Unfortunately, not every webmaster learns about these things in forums like we do.

[NeilAgg]

There is a difference between unmetered and unlimited.
Companies that promise unlimited are lying to you because they are promising everything under the sun for a riduculously low price.
Companies that offer unmetered are up front about it being on a shared pipe and that there are limits.

[brucecaine]

There are a couple of slow loading times a month, though, which irritates me. But the service is good and I can regularly access my email and stuff.I have unlimited hosting with Dreamhost and so far so good.