Now, I know there is alot of talk about "unlimited bandwidth", and how there is no such thing. I understand that if you use 100gigs of bandwidth a month, the host claiming "unlimited" will probably not go for that. BUT, exactly how much can you use before they start hating you? :) I mean, yes, I dont want to use 100gigs a month, nor am I capable of it, but what if I let one of these companys host my forums that normally use about 20gigs a month? You think this would be a problem with most of those "unlimited bandwidth" hosts? Please let me know what ya think. :)

It depends on the host, I think many of these hosts offer unlimited because they don't have the technical know-how to monitor individual site traffic. (meaning they don't have a CP and lack the knowledge necessary to obtain vhost traffic) I am certain people know how to do it, but use unlimited traffic offers to procure companies.

10G for a 300MB account at $25-30 should be OK.

Unlimited means you are hosted on a server where the other could take the entire bandwidth and make your site slow too..... :)

Have a great day :)

Regards
Amar

Amar, sometimes I think you post just to add to your record pace.

smartbackups hit the nail on the head. It isn't easy to monitor this with Cobalts or a few other CPs. Since it isn't easy, they just don't really know how to monitor and charge.

Also, some host get bandwidth so cheap now (Cogent - $.07/GB or Rackshack servers) that they really could care less. Until your traffic from http,cgi scripting, etc... causes the server to slow, they won't hit ya.

I think you will be fine until you start hitting the resources. If you don't use too much scripting or databases, you may get to 50 before they notice. ;)

Hmmmm...interesting. Thank you. My problem is, I have a phpbb board hosted on a plan where 10gigs is the limit, and anyhting over that is $8 per gig. I am using about 13-14 gigs per month, and cannot afford the over-usage costs.

Now, which would be smarter for me to do? Move to tera-byte, where Im allowed 20gigs per month, which will allow me some room for growth, or just find an "unlimited bandwidth" host? What ya think?

I would have to say to avoid all unlimited bandwidth hosts ... not worth the risk. Most of them only offer 5 gigs to 10 gigs and again that's if their no with rackshack or another low cost high bandwdith cobalt hosting company.

you should take a look at http://www.unlimband.com/

Originally posted by shibby
Hmmmm...interesting. Thank you. My problem is, I have a phpbb board hosted on a plan where 10gigs is the limit, and anyhting over that is $8 per gig. I am using about 13-14 gigs per month, and cannot afford the over-usage costs.

Now, which would be smarter for me to do? Move to tera-byte, where Im allowed 20gigs per month, which will allow me some room for growth, or just find an "unlimited bandwidth" host? What ya think?

Post a request in the Requests Forum - many hosts will be able to offer you a better deal than $8 per Gb.

Why is it that message boards take up so much bandwidth? I would think with the database access they would take up less bandwidth.

you should take a look at http://www.unlimband.com/

That site is worthless. No research was done, it is just one mans witch hunt. He now includes unmetered host on there now, which is not unlimited. I wouldn't recomend that site for serious research.

Your best bet is go Tera-byte. You know what you are getting. Stay away from unlimited web host, as eventually you will get charged. But don't use a site that includes a blacklist of host that the owner had time to 'banish'. If you want to find out more about unlimited, use a sitethat is meant to educate, not bash other host.

http://www.UnlimitedTransfer.com

Originally posted by UmBillyCord
That site is worthless. No research was done, it is just one mans witch hunt. He now includes unmetered host on there now, which is not unlimited. I wouldn't recomend that site for serious research.I would like someone to explain, without playing word games, exactly how "unmetered" is different than "unlimited" in terms of web hosting. I've seen people argue that they're different, but I have yet to see anyone define how they're different.

To answer the original question, how much transfer you actually get varries from host to host. The "limits" of "unlimited" are always hidden in the terms of service. I've read some TOSs that say, "unlimited bandwidth, up to 5 GB per month" (talk about playing games!), and others will say that you get unlimited bandwidth as long as your website is not putting an excessive load on the network (in other words, they get to shut you down when they feel like it).

The bottom line is: "Unlimited Bandwidth/Data Transfer" is nothing but a marketing trick, plain and simple. Always read the fine print.

Unmetered typically is associated with a set bandwidth, such as 10mbit, unmetered means if you keep the needle pegged at 10 all month, SO WHAT? It's not "unlimited" as 10mbit has a limit, but it is "unmetered" meaning you can use the pipe to the limit.

Some places meter your bandwidth, say you get a metered 10mbit access with 300gigs. You have 10mbit which is capable of (if I remember right roughly 3TB if you peg it and keep it pegged). Well you're METERED at 300gb so if you peg it and keep it pegged, you're gonna get popped for some MAJOR overage even though you have a "10 mbit line"

Unmetered is perfectly acceptable if used in the proper context, if I signed up for a 10mbit colo deal and it said "unmetered" I would take that to mean, if I peg that baby to 10 and keep it pegged, no one is gonna call me, except maybe as a courtesy "dude are you being dos'd?" and that there will be no surprises in my bill!!

Oh, and unlimited? It doesn't exist. It's a lie whenever it's used pretty much. Unlimited emails ok I want one email address for every word in the dictionary. Unlimited bandwidth? think Yahoo.com something like (from memory) 300TB a day. Unlimited space? Think "Google.com".

Unmetered: pay close attention to the usage of it, typically means no one is watching your usage, and also typically means your usage is capped at an upper limit (unmetered 1.2mbit bandwidth, unmetered internet dialup).

Unlimited: no it isn't there's a limit somewhere.

That is a good response. This is part of what I PM'ed Chris yesterday.

------------------------------------------------------
Unlimited - "Without bounds". "Infinite"

Unmetered - not in the dictionary, but basically (taken from Chicken) -

"meter
tr.v. me·tered
2. To supply in a measured or regulated amount: metered the allotted gasoline to each vehicle.

pref. un-
Not; opposite of; contrary to

So put together, the definition of unmetered would be:

To supply in a not measured or not regulated amount. "


Unlimited means you will encounter to limit from preventing you to use as much as you want. Unmetered says you will not be billed for it.

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Example 1.... You offer unlimited POPs, which everyone seems to think is fine. They say it is ok because the web space allowed is set and limits you.

Now do this with bandwidth. Set a limit on resource use. Lets say "If your site uses over 75% of resources" you need to upgrade. Now you can use as much bandwidth as you want until it effects the server.

This example is NO different then offer unlimited use of your cgi bin. You can use as much until it uses too much resources.
--------------------------------------------
Example 2 .... Power is used to power a server. You are not billed for it. It is included in the cost of the server.

Bandwidth runs a web site (so to speak). If it is so cheap (we pay $.07/GB with Gig-e providers), then it is like power. A comodity. Who cares if someone uses 50 GBs.

If you are not billing for bandwidth, then it is unmetered!
--------------------------------------------

The bottom line again is that unmetered means you are not EVER going to billed for bandwidth under that plan. It does say you can not use a **** load of resources though. Whether from scripts, DBS or http traffic. If you do, then you do what all host do - move them to a VDS or dedicated server.

You then would say "Why not just create some huge limit per plan like 50 GBs." Because with unmetered, it changes per site. Some sites running nothing but HTML will get 50 - 60 GBs before the server takes notice. (Beefier servers more). Sites that use a lot of scripts and high bandwidth can't use as much. Hence the term unmetered. If a customer want s to avoid moving up to the next plan, then they cut some scripts to use more bandwidth.

Wow. Well, I thought about moving my forums (which use about 12-13gigs a month) to tera-byte (under their 20gig plan) and moving my main web pages which have some on-line videos (which use about 4-5 gigs a month) to one of those places that offer "unlimited" or "unmetered". Does this sound like it would be a good idea? If I only use 4-5 gigs on that, do you think I'll have a problem?

Originally posted by shibby
Wow. Well, I thought about moving my forums (which use about 12-13gigs a month) to tera-byte (under their 20gig plan) and moving my main web pages which have some on-line videos (which use about 4-5 gigs a month) to one of those places that offer "unlimited" or "unmetered". Does this sound like it would be a good idea? If I only use 4-5 gigs on that, do you think I'll have a problem?

Well, I doubt it, most of those "unlimited" dudes are honestly banking on you pulling around 250-500 megs a month (I've been dealing with a few of these guys lately on a consulting basis and see how their business plan works...) Hundreds of domains (I mean HUNDREDS as in 500+ pulling down between 10 and 15 gigs per month... and using like a total of 1.2 gigs of space! And every plan they sell is unlimited unlimited...

As I've come to understand through reading this forum, you may still very well have a problem with your "unlimited bandwidth" sites. Because of the way unlimited bandwidth providers lay out their TOS, they can shut your site down if you exhibit bandwidth usage that affect their resources. This sounds reasonable, but because there's no actual number laid out in that TOS and no method by which the host would be required to PROVE your site was affecting the performance of others, they can basically do whatever they want. In other words, there's no definition of what makes your site affect their resources, so they can make up their own and shut you down at will, and your recourse is limited because all they have to do is say you were affecting their system-wide resources.

If their resources are already strained due to poor setup and management, then it could take very little bandwidth usage to negatively affect their systems.

Because of the way unlimited bandwidth providers lay out their TOS, they can shut your site down if you exhibit bandwidth usage that affect their resources. This sounds reasonable, but because there's no actual number laid out in that TOS and no method by which the host would be required to PROVE your site was affecting the performance of others, they can basically do whatever they want.

Not true. A quality company will spell it out for the customer. Like "If you use more then 75% of server resources". What we do is take a screen cap of top to show high cgi use site guys what they are doing. This helps them locate the trouble script and decide if they want to fix it, delete it, or upgrade.

Originally posted by UmBillyCord


Not true. A quality company will spell it out for the customer. Like "If you use more then 75% of server resources". What we do is take a screen cap of top to show high cgi use site guys what they are doing. This helps them locate the trouble script and decide if they want to fix it, delete it, or upgrade.

Excellent point. That is what I'd consider a fair business practice. Unfortunately, most of the unlimited bandwidth providers I've run across (admittedly in the more cheapo price range), don't have anything like that laid out. They just say "if it affects our resources," or something to that effect, so a customer has to just hope they're "good guys."

So to get back to the original question, Shibby, I guess it would be important to look for some actual numbers and specifics in the TOS of a host offering unlimited bandwidth, and not just trust them to only shut you off if you go totally overboard on bandwidth usage. Sounds like Billy has some good suggestions. :)