Uptime Guarantee - Good or Bad Idea?

[Collabora]

The Truth: Uptime guarantees don’t cover the most common kinds of downtime, are rarely triggered and only pay a very small amount when they are. Web hosting companies know that these guarantees are a virtually free way to reassure people of the reliability of their service and that is exactly why they are offered. In that sense uptime guarantees are good for the host

But remember these are not situations where the company is “putting their money where their mouth is" but, instead, is just a marketing gimmick designed to offer a false sense of security

Now, does anyone want to talk about what really matters: The SLA?

 

[Collabora]

As a hosting company offering uptime guarantee works well as a marketing ploy to attract clients, but the point is do the hosts really offer the uptime they claim?

That's an excellent question and touches on what I wrote above. A host is under no obligation to deliver the promised uptime. They are only bound by the SLA. Thus you can offer 99.9% uptime, never achieve it and be doing nothing wrong as long as you deliver the terms of the SLA. If you read these SLAs customer is compensated only pennies for a typical hosting account.

Imagine being down for 30 days on a five dollar/month account: "compensation" (in quotes because its usually a service credit) is only $5 for the 30-day downtime!! If your uptime is 99.5% the difference between that and 99.9% is mere pennies. If 100% downtime = $5.00, then 0.4% is only 2 cents!!!!! . Maybe the host is generous and will give a 5% credit -- a whopping $0.25. Not only that but customer has to notice the downtime and report it. And I haven't even brought up the issue of the definition of downtime -- more wiggle room for the host.

You can now see how you can offer any uptime you want and not have to live up to it. You just need to live up to the SLA. The cost of never delivering the guarantee is miniscule, especially when compensation is in the form of a service credit. But the marketing advantages are big. Hence uptime guarantees are marketing gimmicks

To answer the other questions: according to analysis here, a reseller can promise a better uptime than their provider. Its all in the SLA.

 

[valuehostus]

One question how client know and believe you can really guarantee 99.9% uptime or just a promotion?

 

[suppoB]

One question how client know and believe you can really guarantee 99.9% uptime or just a promotion?

99.9% uptime is not provided by any hosting company in real, it is just a way to promote the hosting package. Even the best providers in the world, like Hostgator show worse results in uptime rates.

<<Name snipped>> company conducted surveillance of 200 websites hosted on each hosting service. Hostgator uptime rate is 97.78% according to the investigation.

http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=369&stc=1&d=1350650125

One more example. Inmotion indicates on their site that their uptime is 99.9% , but let's read the review of of one of the company customers.

"My site has been moved several times because although they offer unlimited disk space, they put my site on a dedicated server without enough space. When they did this one time, they blindly took my site down in the afternoon and did the move without my knowledge or a heads up. (amateur hour). Afterwhich, they failed to upload a bunch of directories that we're needed to be there. I run constant monitoring on my domain and since I've been with them my uptime has been 91.x%. Horrible. Now, my site just got suspended."

 

[SenseiSteve]

That review is vague at best and leaves a lot of unanswered questions, plus it doesn't include a response from Inmotion. Not being associated with or knowing anything about Inmotion, as a consumer, I'd disregard that review altogether if I were considering pursuing services with them.

It seems there's some confusion about uptime guarantees and actual uptimes. Uptime guarantees aren't guaranteeing you'll actually be up 99.9 or 100 percent of the time. They're simply outlining recourse for anything less.

In the investigation you mention, does it take into account websites that are suspended for billing issues or high resource restrictions? Or hacks caused by the client's own outdated scripts? If I'm with Hostgator and my site gets hacked because I'm using an outdated version of WordPress - that forces Hostgator to suspend my site until I remove all malicious code, does that count as downtime in their investigation?

 

[easyhostmedia]

"My site has been moved several times because although they offer unlimited disk space,

why are people who set up hosting and get reseller accounts so nieve that they think that can get unlimited disc space (THIS DOES NOT EXIST).

If it does please tell me where i can purchase an unlimited Hard Disc Drive

 

[Collabora]

why are people who set up hosting and get reseller accounts so nieve that they think that can get unlimited disc space (THIS DOES NOT EXIST).

If it does please tell me where i can purchase an unlimited Hard Disc Drive

Unlimited disk space and unlimited hard drive are two different things. The former refers to the artificial quota imposed by the provider, the latter is a physical device. By removing the limiting disk quota web space is ipso facto unlimited. There is no attempt to defy the laws of physics, and no host makes any such claim.

A hosting plan is a bundle of hosting resources bounded by quotas. There is no law requiring a host to impose artificial and arbitrary quotas. There are other methods of managing resources. The "unlimited" refers to the limit imposed by the provider, not the physical limit of the device or the laws of nature.

These facts escape many for various reasons. If you would like me to show you the windows or linux commands that create unlimited disk quota let me know.

 

[easyhostmedia]

so if you get a dedicated server then the Hard drive that provide the space is unlimited. there is NO such thing as Unlimited disc space as the drive the space is on is LIMITED. any host that says they give unlimited space will have an AUP in place with some limits. you can see this mentioned and discussed on every hosting forum on the internet.

It like a garage saying they wil sell you a car with an unlimited fuel tank. NO SUCH thing exists

There is no law requiring a host to impose artificial and arbitrary quotas.

this is where you are wrong. If a host advertises they will give you unlimited space,umlited bandwitdh etc. and when they give you the account you see you have 50GB space and 50GB b/w then this is not unlimited as advertised, so this is false advertising which is an offence in the UK under the sales of goods and services act.

 

[Collabora]

so if you get a dedicated server then the Hard drive that provide the space is unlimited.

.

Irrelevant. There are no disk quotas involved when purchasing a server. "Unlimited" is implied since the seller of the hardware is not limiting you on its use.

Any host that says they give unlimited space will have an AUP in place with some limits.

So does any host that imposes a limiting quota. Does that mean there is no such thing as 5GB because host offering 5GB quota has an AUP? All limited hosts have an AUP too, very similar to unlimited hosts.

It like a garage saying they wil sell you a car with an unlimited fuel tank.

No its more like renting a car with unlimited mileage. The physical tank has a limit (indeed, the number of roads is limited too). Its "unlimited" because provider is not imposing the limit.

Please do not transfer your incorrect vision onto other hosts who are not operating by it. Again, if you want me to show you how its accomplished on the OS level I'll be happy to.

 

[easyhostmedia]

.

Irrelevant. There are no disk quotas involved when purchasing a server. "Unlimited" is implied since the seller of the hardware is not limiting you on its use.

you are talking unmetered. if you buy a server or even a PC with a 500GB hard drive then you are LIMITED to a max. 500GB disk space. when you by a dedicated server you are give a HDD of a specific GB this is the limit you can use.
[/QUOTE]

 

[Collabora]

you are talking unmetered. if you buy a server or even a PC with a 500GB hard drive then you are LIMITED to a max. 500GB disk space. when you by a dedicated server you are give a HDD of a specific GB this is the limit you can use.

You are. Unmetered is unlimited. Besides my point in my earlier post had nothing to do with dedicates server. Its about shared hosting -- you brought the dedicated server to the discussion. Please stop confusing the issue.

If you have no interest in removing traditional disk quotas and offering unlimited quota, or you you are unable or unwilling to envision or manage such an environment, or even learn how its done, that is fine. But please don't interpret your confusion or unwillingness as a guide for hosts who would like to offer unlimited hosting and acuse them of offering something that does not exist just because you don't understand the product.

 

[easyhostmedia]

You are. Unmetered is unlimited. Besides my point is my earlier post had nothing to do with dedicates server. Its about shared hosting. Please stop confusing the issue.

In shared hosting their is nothing such as Unlimited disk space. learn to read many forums and you will see this explained many times by many hosts.

Unlimited space refers to a host giving you more space on the server than the server has been allocated which cannot be done.

unmetered means that you are give an amount of space that can be increased if available and required at no further cost to the client.

unlimited space plans mean that if you say pay $300 a month for a 2000 GB server and then advertise a shared unlimited plan for $5 the client can techinally use the whole 2000GB for their $5. and no host is going to allow a client to do that.

 

[Collabora]

In shared hosting their is nothing such as Unlimited disk space.

Unlimited space refers to a host giving you more space on the server than the server has been allocated which cannot be done.
.

There is no "allocation" in unlimited hosting, by definition. By just using that word indicates you don't know what "unlimited" means in the context of shared hosting. Stay in the dark if you wish. I offered to show you where it exists on the OS level and you don't want to learn. Keep believing what makes you happy....don't let the facts I offer you stand in your way.

 

[easyhostmedia]

There is no "allocation" in unlimited hosting, by definition.

true for the client, but offering shared hosting then the host will have a server or reseller plan with an allocation of space on a HDD.

take your own VPS1 plan Disk Space 20GB - RAM 512MB - CPU 1GHz

your client has only 20GB space if he offered unlimited shared plans then how could he offer above the allocation of 20GB on his server. answer HE CANT, so his plan is not unlimited but 20GB and if he offers these then he is overselling

 

[Artashes]

Interesting discussion, but I have a question.

Collabora, I could not help but notice that your company sells a plan that offers unlimited space and bandwidth. And while you very fairly state that: "[W]hile it is rare, we may need to put constraints on accounts that are adversely affecting other customers or otherwise utilizing or abusing resources beyond what would be expected of a personal or small business website," the question I have as a consumer is what those limitations are. In theory, could I have a small business website that would store the multimedia content (last estimate was around 4.5 TB of data) that I created and own. But not for public access, rather a private access to a few people/clients that work with me? Inactive multimedia content, as far as I know, doesn't really put processing load on a server.

 

[Collabora]

Interesting discussion, but I have a question.

Collabora, I could not help but notice that your company sells a plan that offers unlimited space and bandwidth. And while you very fairly state that: "[W]hile it is rare, we may need to put constraints on accounts that are adversely affecting other customers or otherwise utilizing or abusing resources beyond what would be expected of a personal or small business website," the question I have as a consumer is what those limitations are. In theory, could I have a small business website that would store the multimedia content (last estimate was around 4.5 TB of data) that I created and own. But not for public access, rather a private access to a few people/clients that work with me? Inactive multimedia content, as far as I know, doesn't really put processing load on a server.

Good question, and thanks for the concrete example. "Fair Usage" applies to unlimited hosting as well as limited hosting. One finds fair usage clauses in both hosts' AUPs. The unlimited web hosting plan supports only web sites suitable for a shared hosting environment, just like the limited plans. The sites are not limited by size, but by other factors such as cpu and ram -- just like limited hosts do.

Both models don't tolerate abuse. However, the unlimited host is open to certain types of "abuse" that (most) limited hosts are not: users utilizing web space for files that do not support a web site, for example using the disk space for backing up your friend's PC, file archiving, etc. Inode limits can be put in place to protect agains i/o abuse.

By "limiting" the purpose of hosting resources to files of the type that support a site suitable for a shared hosting environment AND the other fair usage principles found in all hosts, one does not really need quotas. Since 99.9% of such sites are under 2GB and 99.9 percent of those are under 5GB, the problems presented by the extreme examples never materialize

And to answer your question directly, you would not be allowed on my plan and you would not pay for a service you did not receive (namely archiving your video files on the web hosting server)

The problem with most critics is they apply the term "unlimited hosting" to hosts that don't exist, to physical hardware instead of artificial quotas, or web sites that should be on a vps or dedicated server.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Both models don't tolerate abuse. However, the unlimited host is open to certain types of "abuse" that (most) limited hosts are not: users utilizing web space for files that do not support a web site, for example using the disk space for backing up your friend's PC, file archiving, etc. Inode limits can be put in place to protect agains i/o abuse.

By "limiting" the purpose of hosting resources

then its not unlimited

the unlimited host is open to certain types of "abuse" that (most) limited hosts are not: users utilizing web space for files that do not support a web site, for example using the disk space for backing up your friend's PC, file archiving, etc.

unlimited and limited hosts can still prevent these types of files.

Any host is open to abuse

 

[Blue]

I've said it before and I'll say it again and I'll continue to say it.
If you offer unlimited disk space you are a liar. Pure and simple.

You can argue semantics and "marketing" schemes till the cows come home but it does not change the fact you are lying.

Why would any client want to start a business relationship when the very first point of contact is a lie?

 

[Collabora]

then its not unlimited

Its not your plan to define. You are applying "unlimited" to areas that unlimited hosts do not.

Yet you have no problem offering unlimited email and databases which require unlimited disk space.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Its not your plan to define. You are applying "unlimited" to areas that unlimited hosts do not.

Yet you have no problem offering unlimited email and databases which require unlimited disk space.

but you state unlimited plans, but in the same statement state limits, so if you state limits then you are not offering unlimited

Originally Posted by Collabora

Both models don't tolerate abuse. However, the unlimited host is open to certain types of "abuse" that (most) limited hosts are not: users utilizing web space for files that do not support a web site, for example using the disk space for backing up your friend's PC, file archiving, etc. Inode limits can be put in place to protect agains i/o abuse.

By "limiting" the purpose of hosting resources