Ok, I have been trying to get a grip on this hosting thing...
I am trying to organise hosting for a friend for his site, so ideally I want as much of an "all inclusive" package as possible.

I have found a few I like the look of, and then I hit here and Usenet to see whats being said about them. Half the universe says "booya they're crap" and the other half says "well, I actually use them and they are great". I am ready to pass out. :(

The site in question will be for an indy rock band with a moderately large grass roots following, so while it will not be getting a million hits a week it should be stable and be able to take some traffic. We also want to offer the oppertunity to download a couple of songs. This is why we are going with "proper" hosting. It should be php and sql (mysql would be fine) enabled. A couple of pop emails would be nice too. In terms of space 50 would probably cut it in an emergency.

So far it looks like A+ would do the job with their SoloXR package.
http://www.aplus.net/services/hosting-comparing.html

However, suddenly I am noticing everyone rolling their eyes at unlimited bandwidth. Whats the big problem with it? Unlimited sounds good if I want to offer some mp3s.

Please help me out here, I feel like I am drowning in all the different information.

www.unlimband.com

:cool:

Check unlimband.com for more info about unlimited bandwidth.

There are times when the word unlimited may work for you, it really depends on your host and whether you are lucky or not.

More often than not, hosts that promote unlimited bandwidth just give you that, unlimited burstable bandwidth.

But what about data transfer? Most probably 10 - 20gig? maybe? over that and you get cut off.

[However, suddenly I am noticing everyone rolling their eyes at unlimited bandwidth. Whats the big problem with it? Unlimited sounds good if I want to offer some mp3s.

Please help me out here, I feel like I am drowning in all the different information. [/B]

As with all Unlimited accounts it's not: READ :angry:
Read: http://www.abac.com/services/heavy-traffic.html
Monthly overage Price mo. per GB
from 0-10 GB $5
10-20 GB $4
20 GB + $3

Read their TOS: http://www.aplus.net/legal.html

Ahaaaa... ok so unlimited bandwith and unlimited data transfer are two different things :( And they take advantage of the fact that dorks like me think it means the same thing? I see.....

So data transfer is how many megs/gigs people can download from my site in a month, including not only offered files but also html, images etc? Bandwidth is then how fast the site and files would download? Can somone confirm I have understood that correctly? The speed issue doesn't bother me too much, the site will not be graphics intensive, and if people want the files they can download them slow if need be :P

I don't see any "data-transfer" limits in the various packages being offered. I will go scour their site some more. Anyone able to suggest some relativly cheap hosts with good reps and a high data transfer allowance?

Either way there is no such thing ;)

Bandwidth is the total size of all files transferred to web surfers from your site.

Any outbound traffic from your web site is considered data transfer. Each time a html file, graphic file or any other element on your web page is loaded, data transfer is generated.

sitekeeper:

It says unlimited and in the TOS it says that they dont meter unless you are infringing on the TOS. The TOS refers only to infringement of copyright which will not be an issue with this site.

What do those "overcharges" you linked to mean?

Originally posted by phpcoder
Datatransfer aka bandwidth are about the same thing to my knowledge. Either way there is no such thing.

No they are not. Any self respecting IT individual will argue to the heavens with you over this. And it is quite obvious too.

Bandwidth - The amount of data that can travel thru a single link at once.

Data Transfer - How much data was transfered.

While it may look like the same, it is totally different. Let's take for example you have ADSL with a speed rating of 512k/128k. Your allocated bandwidth is 512k. And whatever your data cap is, it will be linked to your data transfer.

Originally posted by Iteki

So data transfer is how many megs/gigs people can download from my site in a month, including not only offered files but also html, images etc? Bandwidth is then how fast the site and files would download? Can somone confirm I have understood that correctly? The speed issue doesn't bother me too much, the site will not be graphics intensive, and if people want the files they can download them slow if need be :P


Yes you got that right! :)

this is fabulous.. it does my heart well to know people are catching on! It's very unproffesional to see a site who claims to have unlimited bandwidth and not know what their talking about.

but we SHALL educate ONE at a time i guess! :D

hmm...quite informative..yes :)

Originally posted by ecpHosting
this is fabulous.. it does my heart well to know people are catching on! It's very unproffesional to see a site who claims to have unlimited bandwidth and not know what their talking about.

but we SHALL educate ONE at a time i guess! :D

Yeah, and i am sure a few hosts out there learn something too...:D

I hate it when people confuse bandwidth with data transfer.

Originally posted by net-trend
I hate it when people confuse bandwidth with data transfer.

Agreed, though it's becoming a case where one means the other these days. We often gets questions regarding bandwidth, when they mean data transfer. The path of least resistance mean you know what they mean, but use the term they're most comfortable using, but mention (in brackets for example) what the correct term is - without looking like a pris :)

Greg Moore

You would be best to request something in the Host Request forum. Get a response.

Good gods!
Seems "unlimited" is more like 1.5 gig when you finally get a number. That isn't really going to cut it for me.
Off I go to the requests forum with my newly gained knowledge.

there's no such thing like unlimited bandwith. It's the same to say I'll never get out of memory. Somewhere the bandwith must stop even if you have thousands of OC-3 links. But data transfer cannot be counted. And no reliable hosting service does that. That's why all their connections costs. So you have to put a limit. If a hosting company doesn't put a limit their data-transfer rates (or bandwith) run out. So it's better to worry about stability and uptime.