Aplus.net Blog

As we discussed yesterday, there is now an incredible amount of options when choosing a hosting provider for your Internet business.

This explosive growth in the hosting industry has lowered prices, and forced web hosts to be much more competitive regarding the features they offer. And in some cases, this ultra-competitiveness has led to a dangerous oversight that may cause some serious problems for a lot of online businesses in the future.

Popular web hosting provider directory findmyhosting.com has called this “The Unlimited Myth”, stating that it’s “impossible for any provider to actually provide an unlimited amount of bandwidth or disk space.” The Web Hosting show has even included it in its list of “7Dirty Words Every Hosting Customer Should Know“.

Companies offering “unlimited” bandwidth bank on the fact that most sites require a very small amount of bandwidth. So, they’re taking a calculated risk that they can get away with calling their service “unlimited” since those limits will probably never be tested. But that could also make for an unfortunate situation where a website suddenly needs a lot of bandwidth that just isn’t there.

The reality is that website owners who choose plans based on the appeal of unlimited bandwidth, run the risk of having their sites shut down with no notice for over-usage — in some cases, sometimes even getting charged for the overuse. As with any service you buy, it’s always best to read the hosting company’s Terms of Service before signing the dotted line.

If you’ve had any experiences with unlimited bandwidth not really being “unlimited”, let us know about it in the comments.

And hey, if “unlimited” bandwidth is something you’re looking for — if you need advanced professional hosting services to give your online business room to grow — then you should probably be looking at dedicated hosting, anyway. Tune in tomorrow, and we’ll go over some of the pros and cons of choosing dedicated hosting for your online business strategy.