I don't want to put words in other peoples mouths or even talk for anyone but myself...but I think a lot of web hosts oversell. I mean, lets say you are given 300 GB of bandwith and each of your customers pays for 5 GB of bandwith. You can have a total of 60 customers per server. (I am not taking disk space into account because disk space usually isn't a problem, although bandwith usually isn't either.) Web hosting companies would be losing money by only hosting 60 domains/clients per server. So most web hosts do a harsh word - "oversell". But is overselling really bad? As I've just said, web hosting companies could lose money if they didn't oversell. If web hosting companies don't oversell, they would probably have to raise their prices a good $10, just to cover all expenses. Anybody have any thoughts on this matter?

Every company oversells, Those 60 clients will never use all their data transfer, most likely only 5 will use their max. Your right, web hosts would have to significantly raise their prices if they did not oversell. This is what happens when competition starts...

Other industries that oversell, Cell Phones, ISP's (AOL had a huge problem),

Most dedicated server providers offering 300 GB are overselling as well, or utilizing unbillable bandwidth.

Overselling is an art form if you ask me. I find the trick to be 2 things.

sell only to the CPU reaches 50% usage on average and or till you reach 50% of your Nic card bandwidth.

And

Never oversell beond a 3 to 1 ratio the drive space

I perfer to practice the 50% cpu rule, It has prevented me from overselling just about all the resouces.

Mike

Originally posted by DizixCom
Most dedicated server providers offering 300 GB are overselling as well, or utilizing unbillable bandwidth.

I'm sure that is the case.

Lets not get started;) , but a big-time overseller that comes to mind had to be Cyberwings. Is it time to zap those accounts 5 times yet?:rolleyes:

adehost just about summed it up pretty good. Everyone is overselling so it is something you cant get away from. Bandwidth is the most expensive part of hosting (besides labor). Bandwidth prices should be coming down but they are sticking pretty good.

In a competetive business such as this, not overselling is bad business. As long as it is managed correctly it has no negative effect on anyone involved including the customer, and shouldn't really be looked upon as a bad thing. If a host can build in its pricing structure to allow you to use what it thinks an average user will be using for X dollars, than it is only to your advantage that they are overselling if you use more than the average amount of bandwidth/storage etc. assuming the host can live up their end of the bargain which any well run host can and will do. The host is charging you under the assumtion you will use X bandwidth, even though you are able to use Y, if you use Y then good for you, you saved some money. A bad thing would be having a host that didn't exercise common sense and would be willing to simply throw away all of the unused resources every month under the assumption that some day every single user on every server is going to be maxing out every feature of their account at the same time.

-Brendan

Originally posted by goodness0001
adehost just about summed it up pretty good. Everyone is overselling so it is something you cant get away from. Bandwidth is the most expensive part of hosting (besides labor). Bandwidth prices should be coming down but they are sticking pretty good.

Bandwidth prices shouldn't be going down. BW providers have been seeded with VC for several years now which is how they are offering BW so cheap now. Just wait until all the money is gone and they have to start turning a profit or go out of business.

I have a feeling BW prices will be taking a turn for the expensive. No more 400 GB dedicated servers for $99 a month :D

Originally posted by goodness0001
adehost just about summed it up pretty good. Everyone is overselling so it is something you cant get away from. Bandwidth is the most expensive part of hosting (besides labor). Bandwidth prices should be coming down but they are sticking pretty good.

I'm not expecting that bandwidth prices to drop any further. I don't read that many reports of new fiber being laid out. plus alot of fiber is being bought out. It will be interesting that's for sure.

mike

Originally posted by beley


Bandwidth prices shouldn't be going down. BW providers have been seeded with VC for several years now which is how they are offering BW so cheap now. Just wait until all the money is gone and they have to start turning a profit or go out of business.

I have a feeling BW prices will be taking a turn for the expensive. No more 400 GB dedicated servers for $99 a month :D


I will agree with you, but it's going to be tiered better.

this is what I'm hoping for

performance bandwidth ( from point a to point b in very few hops.)
general bandwidth ( from point a to point b hoping around )
cheap bandwith ( from a to b hopping like mad )

and the cogent price will go up to about ( end user price 1000, isp price 3000, and web host price 5000 )