How do they do it? Unlimited domains and bandwidth

[Collabora]

in unlimited plans a client can still go over, just that he wont be charged for the extra.

I guess I don't understand what you mean by unlimited customer "going over." Please provide a valid real-world example. You can use mine as a template. Please keep in mind, in my example, I was highlighting a key difference, not a similarity

Suppose your host has a 2 GB, 5 GB and 10 GB plan. You sign up for a 2 GB hosting plan. Now let's suppose your site grows to 2.1 GB. What happens? Your limited host will either:


1. Suspend your site when you hit the 2GB limit
2. Charge you a premium for going over the 2GB limit
3. Ask you to pay for the 5 GB plan, with a new bigger limit
4. All the above


Its different with an unlimited host. What happens with the unlimited hosting? Nothing! Your site goes from 2.0 GB to 2.1 GB without penalty, threats of suspension, or additional charges. That is what unlimited hosting is all about!

 

[Artashes]

If customer goes over they should pay. However, in the unlimited plan there is no such thing as "going over" in the sense that you are referring to. That this is difficult for you to grasp, or that you refuse to, is telling.

You are 100% right. Indeed, in unlimited plan there is no such thing as "going over". There is, however, such things as getting suspended for over usage and selling me a VPS/dedicated server instead. No, thanks.

 

[Collabora]

You are 100% right. Indeed, in unlimited plan there is no such thing as "going over". There is, however, such things as getting suspended for over usage and selling me a VPS/dedicated server instead. No, thanks.

The exact same thing happens with limited hosts. When your 50 mb wordpress site on a 5 GB plan starts hogging cpu you'll get the same story. Web space allotment is irrelevant in these cases. As I clearly showed earlier the main difference between an unlimited host and the limited host, is the limited host has limits beyond and in addition to the hosting plan quotas -- see TOS, while the unlimited host has only the same TOS

Another difference here, albeit a minor one, is that, in the case above, unlimited hosts don't go around claiming "5GB doesn' exist!" or "They promise 5 Gb but its a lie -- they have 'hidden limits'" blah blah blah. The hypocrisy and double standards of the limited host is truly unlimited

 

[Sister]

The only two choices are lying or not lying.
Nothing relative about it.

Why not just offer a free trip on the space shuttle with every account. It would be more possible than unlimited.

I don't think it's a very difficult concept. Unlimited resources can be candidly offered through a context wherein there are other limiting factors at play. That which is 'unlimited' can be offered without anxiety when it is overwhelmingly more likely that the limiting factors will be reached first. For instance, we offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth with some of our shared hosting plans, but CPU usage is limited (as with any other shared host). What happens 99.9% of the time is the CPU limit is hit before the disk space and/or bandwidth is given a chance to sky rocket out of control. There is no 'lying' here, at least not with us, as CPU limitations are clearly outlined in our ToS and 'unlimited' is clearly defined in our knowledge base.

It is commonplace for web hosts to offer 'unlimited' subdomains, addon domains, FTP accounts, etc. for the exact same reason, i.e. there are other limiting factors at play.

The exact same thing happens with limited hosts. When your 50 mb wordpress site on a 5 GB plan starts hogging cpu you'll get the same story.

Came here to say this as well. There are CPU/RAM limitations with any host, whether they offer limited or unlimited disk space and bandwidth.

 

[Collabora]

I don't think it's a very difficult concept. Unlimited resources can be candidly offered through a context wherein there are other limiting factors at play. That which is 'unlimited' can be offered without anxiety when it is overwhelmingly more likely that the limiting factors will be reached first. For instance, we offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth with some of our shared hosting plans, but CPU usage is limited (as with any other shared host). What happens 99.9% of the time is the CPU limit is hit before the disk space and/or bandwidth is given a chance to sky rocket out of control. There is no 'lying' here, at least not with us, as CPU limitations are clearly outlined in our ToS and 'unlimited' is clearly defined in our knowledge base.

A great description of unlimited hosting in action. And its not a difficult concept. The only difficulty that exists is finding a valid reason why hosts with hosting plan quotas are allowed to use these "other limits" and hosts without quotas in their hosting plans are not allowed to (or be called all sorts of names) in shared hosting environment. Well, it isn't difficult really -- not if you include reasons like hypocrisy, ignorance, willful deception and FUD marketing.

 

[Andys777]

They lie. Pure and simple.

 

[LampNetworks]

My my brother-in-law breeds dogs, shows dogs, works dogs, walks dogs etc... and has a portfolio of images that he'd like to share with family and like minded people of the various clubs he is a member of. His gallery will be low I/O, CPU, RAM and I'd guess quite low bandwidth, however, his gallery could grow about 2GB DS a month which is going to be to big for the limited plans we offer within a few months.

The above shouldn't be a problem with an unlimited host?

 

[HostZealot]

My my brother-in-law breeds dogs, shows dogs, works dogs, walks dogs etc... and has a portfolio of images that he'd like to share with family and like minded people of the various clubs he is a member of. His gallery will be low I/O, CPU, RAM and I'd guess quite low bandwidth, however, his gallery could grow about 2GB DS a month which is going to be to big for the limited plans we offer within a few months.

The above shouldn't be a problem with an unlimited host?

Buying unlimited hosting "just in case" is not the best solution. Maybe some mid-price package will be enough to fit your brother's needs for a long time. Upgrade/downgrade of package is also always possible with any decent hosting provider.

So, choose the variant that fits you now and think about updates when necessity arises instead of paying for unlimited resources you will not use at once after purchase.

Good luck with that photo gallery, dogs are cute and awesome!

 

[Collabora]

My my brother-in-law breeds dogs, shows dogs, works dogs, walks dogs etc... and has a portfolio of images that he'd like to share with family and like minded people of the various clubs he is a member of. His gallery will be low I/O, CPU, RAM and I'd guess quite low bandwidth, however, his gallery could grow about 2GB DS a month which is going to be to big for the limited plans we offer within a few months.

The above shouldn't be a problem with an unlimited host?

Should be no more of a problem than getting, say, the Corvette plan at HostZealot (Just an example, not a testimonial)....or any other host with the appropriate multi-tiered quota-based plans

 

[Artashes]

Should be no more of a problem than getting, say, the Corvette plan at HostZealot (Just an example, not a testimonial)....or any other host with the appropriate multi-tiered quota-based plans

So that gallery-website that adds 2GB per month in disk space (or another that adds 10GB, or 50GB), but none of that CPU load, will work well on your $1.95/mo unlimited plan as well, right?

 

[stgeorgehosting]

What companies do is to overload their servers.
Means that they put as many accounts as they can, hoping that the low usage clients would give more room to the high usage clients. That way the low and high can live together.
Think of it as a buffet. They clients that eat more are very few but any ways the clients that eat less will compensate for those who eat more.

However, overlaoding the servers is a very bad idea and most of the time you end with more troubles.

 

[Collabora]

So that gallery-website that adds 2GB per month in disk space...but none of that CPU load, will work well on your...unlimited plan as well, right?

The question has already been answered: http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/we...nlimited-domains-bandwidth-13.html#post174278

But you have added the conditional of "work well?" How can I know if it will work well without seeing one line of code? All I can do is offer a 30-day MBG or a refund for unused hosting if on the annual plan.

Or maybe you should ask your little imaginary webmaster how your imaginary site will work. Don't ask me. :rolleyes2

 

[Artashes]

The question has already been answered: http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/we...nlimited-domains-bandwidth-13.html#post174278

But you have added the conditional of "work well?" How can I know if it will work well without seeing one line of code? All I can do is offer a 30-day MBG or a refund for unused hosting if on the annual plan.

Or maybe you should ask your little imaginary webmaster how your imaginary site will work. Don't ask me. :rolleyes2

What does code of a website have to do with your promise to deliver infinite resources? Or do you go through code of each of your client to make sure they qualify for this plan? Suppose it is nothing but pictures that you display statically on a website. Not even a script requiring a database.

I intentionally used the word infinite, because, contrary to what you try to convince on your website FAQ, the word is indeed a synonym of the word unlimited.

Is Unlimited the Same as Infinite?
Absolutley not!
http://www.collabora365.com/knowledgebase/6/Unlimited-Hosting-FAQ.html

 

[Sidular]

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This again. Oh have I missed this endless debate.

I have nothing to say on the subject this time around, due to how the last debate ended. I hate being compared to a thief or a liar, all because I offer services people refuse to properly or fully understand.

Still, I feel like I need to have a say in this. So, here goes nothing...

Unlimited is not a scam, just a misunderstood term. Does it provide infinite hard drive space? No. If anything, it's the slow mans way of referring to unmetered. Unmetered hosting does in fact exist, and that is exactly what unlimited is. There are no predetermined limitations. The quotas are removed, and without a quota to limit you, the plan is unlimited. That's really all it is referring to. The removal of a quota, not of the hardware or system resources, just the lack of a software based quota that restricts you to x when the server itself is capable of providing xyz.

Also, before anybody makes any kind of accusations against me, or claiming me to be a part of a pro-unlimited crowd. I am in no way with or against unlimited hosting, as most providers do in fact use it as nothing more than a shady marketing trick. When a provider claims to offer unlimited hosting, the first thing anyone should do is read the terms of service. If they enforce inodes or CPU restrictions, request the server information and current server usage. If you find that your website will easily fit within the enforced hardware limits, go ahead and order a plan. Chances are, you won't run into any problems, and will pay a lower rate than the quota-based providers for an equivalent service.
Some unlimited providers have different restrictions in place, while others dont have any, and will actually upgrade you to a full powered server, if you ever required one.
The point is, every provider is different. They all have different strategies, and they all have different ways to market to different people.

Also, it seems to be a common misconception that unlimited = unreliable, or oversold.
While this can be true, it isn't the hosting package that causes the unreliability, but rather the unprofessionally managed hosting network. Scummy providers exist. There's no denying that. However, they exist in all fields, not just web hosting. It is the providers responsibility to maintain their network. If the provider sells hosting with no software quotas, and then fails to maintain the network, chances are, that provider would have failed no matter what it did, quota or no quota. It simply wasn't meant to be, and was unprofessionally operated.


I know my explanation of unlimited and quota based hosting is unlikely to be accepted by 95% of the members on here. However, I figured I'd give it another try, as some of you just don't seem to get it.

 

[LampNetworks]

I know my explanation of unlimited and quota based hosting is unlikely to be accepted by 95% of the members on here. However, I figured I'd give it another try, as some of you just don't seem to get it.

About 95% don't get it?

 

[cheapdedicated]

They lie. Pure and simple.

I think its better to say they underestimate your needs. They assume you will never knock higher than they can offer. Ok I guess when you hit it then they lied coz they will start quoting fair usage LOL

 

[Sidular]

About 95% don't get it?

You're right, that's likely far too low to be accurate.

I think its better to say they underestimate your needs. They assume you will never knock higher than they can offer. Ok I guess when you hit it then they lied coz they will start quoting fair usage LOL

No, they do not lie. Most people simply do not understand what unlimited hosting is.
As stated in my earlier reply, unlimited doesn't mean infinite; it's simply the removal of the predetermined quotas. When you remove the quota, you're left with an unlimited hosting plan. That's it. There's no magic, there's no defying the laws of psychics. It is as simple as removing the quota.

There are still hardware limits, just as there are hardware limits in quota-based hosting. The only difference between 'limited' and 'unlimited' is the removal of the quota.

 

[cheapdedicated]

unlimited doesn't mean infinite; it's simply the removal of the predetermined quotas. When you remove the quota, you're left with an unlimited hosting plan.

There are still hardware limits, just as there are hardware limits in quota-based hosting. The only difference between 'limited' and 'unlimited' is the removal of the quota.

I read you loud and clear and agree entirely but it's also true that many times some Hosts use the unlimited word because in selling terms to a not so technical buyer it will be mistaken for Infinite. That's when the lie trigger goes off.

 

[Sidular]

I read you loud and clear and agree entirely but it's also true that many times some Hosts use the unlimited word because in selling terms to a not so technical buyer it will be mistaken for Infinite. That's when the lie trigger goes off.

No matter which 'professional' hosting forum I go to, I always see a large amount of hate towards the unlimited term. This hate, in my opinion, is being directed at the wrong thing.

Shady providers exist. That's an unfortunate fact of any industry.
I just wish people would stop making false accusations towards all unlimited providers, and instead direct that hatred towards those that actually deserve it; the shady operations with low/no ethical values.

 

[cheapdedicated]

No matter which 'professional' hosting forum I go to, I always see a large amount of hate towards the unlimited term. This hate, in my opinion, is being directed at the wrong thing.

I think you got me wrong. Its not true that this is about a hate for Unlimited providers. At the risk of being mistaken to be advertising my company we offer them (that cant be hate can it?) BUT the point I was making was that many times the ignorance of the clients is exploited by many service providers. I cant say that its entirely their fault because clients also need to have the T.O.S and other terms well understood.