Marketing No Brainers

The Unlimited Web Hosting Myth

August 12th, 2008Web Hosting

Unlimited bandwidth, unlimited transfer, unlimited domains, unlimited anything is one of the big lies of the web hosting industry. Web hosting companies love to sell to people in ways that border on the criminal, and “unlimited” web hosting is one that is definitely dishonest.

The facts are that server space is limited and bandwidth is limited. There is no infinite hard drive on any server anywhere, and there is there no infinite ability to transfer bandwidth.

The unlimited offer is made because web hosting companies rely on customers using only a tiny fraction of their hosting assets. When you buy shared web hosting, it is just that: shared. You share server space with others. You share bandwidth with others. And you have no way of knowing who those others are.

Somewhere in the fine print of a host’s “unlimited” hosting offer will be something to the effect that if you start interfering with the ability of others on your shared server to use their web hosting you will be the one that suffers.

This isn’t meant to discourage you from choosing whatever web hosting company you please. I do hope you think about all this before you commit to hosting. Make sure you understand how web hosting is sold.

Buying a web hosting account with a ridiculous amount of disk space and transfer just because it is there is kind of like buying a car with a speedometer that goes to 160. When you go over 80 you risk being put in jail. The same goes for a shared server. Use more than your fair share of assets and you will be in “web hosting jail.”

The solution to this is simple, do business with a web host that doesn’t oversell space and doesn’t cut you off for being successful, i.e. getting too much traffic. I have Bizaddy.com, my own hosting company because I got tired of being kicked around by web hosting companies who sell one thing and provide another.

Another reason I host my own sites for superior server uptime and performance. Join me at Bizaddy.com for the same. I’d be glad to recommend a web hosting plan for your needs or custom create one for you.