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Thread: GB

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
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    netherlands
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    hello

    is anyone willing to tell what kind of dedicated server plan they have, especially those who offer hosting to others. It seems to me that 50 gb of bandwith is very low to offer hosting services especially when you have to pay a minimum of 200 dollars for it.

    How does one make a profit or at least cover its expenses with 50 gb.
    How can tera-byte offer 40 gb for just 30 dollars when (an extra) 50gb cost at least 100 dollars with a dedicated server plan.

    I was thinking of giving hosting services to my customers/visitors but after investigation i see that i cannot even break even.

    I'm puzzled at how the rest of you are doing it .... any help greatly appreciated.

    thanks

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  2. #2
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    Jun 2000
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    Washington, USA
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    Cool

    They can do this because they don't expect you to use all the bandwidth. The average website uses less than 1GB a month.

  3. #3
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    It helps to understand that hosts make use of the law of averages. Some make use of misdrirection, redirection, lies (either of comission of omission) and other tricks.

    Many of the uninformed shoppers (prospective customers) want to get as much as they can without understanding their needs. They may pass on good, reputable hosts offering a sepcified and reasonable amount of resources in favor of one promising huge, even unlimited amounts of those same resources.

    The great majority of sites use less than 5 mb of disk space and less than 1 gb of bandwidth monthly. Even so, many shoppers will be swayed by promises of 200 mb of space or more, and huge amounts of bandwidth, like the 40 gb on shared server hosting at Tera Byte.

    To an extent, it doesn't matter how much bandwith or disk space they promise. Most sites are still going to use a modicum of each.

    Unfortunately, many companies, way too many, lie in the process, especially about bandwidth. Bandwidth alone is not the limiting factor for shared server hosting. Bandwidth is closely partnered with cpu usage and, unless one takes into account the limitations of cpu usage, and a host discloses them, promises of large bandwith amounts are lies of omission and only part of the picture.

    50gb is not too low an amount. You also have to know that this is one resource that hosts pay for as well, so it is limited in at least as much as only so much can be offered before costs rise based on actual usage.

    Here's an example of the principle. A host has a server with 50 gb alloted to them. They offer 5 gb to their customers. It would seem that after 10 customers (10 x 5 gb alloted = 50gb), that bandwidth expenses would rise for the host. At the rate of $3 per additional bandwith, it would seem that they just wouldnt make much on additional customers. That 5 gb allottment would seem to cost $15 for each new customer $3 x 5 gb allotment =$15).

    The median for basic hosting would seem to be around $20 monthly. Deducting the $15 fopr bandwidth charges alone, the host now makes a paltry $5 for each new customer.

    It hardly seems worth it.

    Now we apply the law of averages. Since most sites will make use of less than 1 gb of transfer montly, instead of the 10 accounts we have alloted the bandwidth to (on paper), we can get more than 50 accounts using that very same amount of bandwidth.

    It is a ittle bit like the guarantee many stores have that they will refund the difference in price of any item if you find it cheaper elsewhere within the 30 days after you purchase it. Less than 4% of customers ever make use of that guarantee, so it really doesn't cost the store anything to offer it. In fact, the guarantee helps sales by making the customers feel comfortable and confident about their decision/purchase.

    It is similar with hosting. Most people look for far more resources than they will utilize and hosting companies use the real, rather than theoretical, in their financial calculations.

    Educated shoppers are less likely to be deceived by simple promises of more resources.
    Techcellence - Business Specialists and Information Resource
    http://techcellence.net

    Information on selecting a host and other things related to an Internet presence at http://techcellence.net/information

  4. #4
    Actually my average customer uses 3 gigs of bandwidth per month. with my cost of Sub 2.00 a gig the average user costs me under 6.00 a month and my average cost to them is 9.25 hence I make 3.25 per customer per month. I put 186 customers on a server so each server makes me 604.00 per month to pay for everything else needed to run a facility like mine. could I run my business if shared hosting was all I offered? Absolutely. is shared hosting all I offer? no way.
    so Duster your right we do rely on the law of averages, and we do rely on the fact that people always want more bang for their buck. Is it dishonest? I don't think so, I call it marketing.
    Have I ever kicked off a user for using to much bandwidth? no I never have and I never will, my objective has always been to move high traffic sites to their own dedicated servers which is where they belong in the first place. I have over 500 sites on my servers right now using in excess of 40 gigs of bandwidth each (my highest plan is only 40 gigs) the only thing i've done to these people to this point is move them off fully loaded servers onto servers with under 30 users per box, the reason I do this is simple as stated bandwidth does equate to cpu usage if left on a standard server they would slow down everyone's sites.
    so you may ask why bother its obviously not a whole lot of money to be made from that pricing plan. well here it is in a nutshell.
    I own spaceports.com a free site with some 250,000 webmasters.
    as these people develop their skills and sites they need a more professional look and feel.
    I also own redirection.net an easy way for them to get a domain name attached to their website
    now they have expanded beyond free hosting
    I own tera-byte so they can now move to a shared hosting solution at a reasonable cost.
    when they outgrow that I can now offer them a dedicated solution again for a reasonable cost.
    this entire business comes down to one thing relationships, offer people a good service at a reasonable cost and you have customers for life. that's my goal, my business plan, and what I do.

    Steve
    this post was "kid tested and Chicken approved"

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
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    Southern California
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    As well as "Chicken tested" as I use their services
    HostHideout.com - Where professionals discuss web hosting.

    • Chicken

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Posts
    37

    Thumbs up

    I'm not sure if Keeg is from tera-byte ... but i know steve is from there ... i'm currently hosted with tera-byte on their 99MB 20GB plan. The support is good. I get replies all the time. Currently, i'm very happy with them just that i'm looking forward for dedicated.

    My website is currently chewing up 300MB a day but since i'm planning to get a chatroom, i'm planning to go on dedicated. Been shopping around and off course asked lots of questions. But kind off get scared when people warned me about the admin of a server.

    Anyone have any idea how to test the speed on a host? I have tried PING from hostinvestigator .... but is it accurate? so far, dellhost, ultraspeedusa is among the fastest

    aaron

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
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    80,000 feet under the sur
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    Talking

    Aaron,

    Keeg = Steve Keyser

    Keeg, Aaron. Aaron, meet Steve
    My 2 Cents.... (or is that 2.2 cents inc. GST...?)

    Have a think about this : Programming is like sex. Make a single little mistake, and you'll be supporting it for the rest of your life.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Southern California
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    Originally posted by aaronx88
    Anyone have any idea how to test the speed on a host? I have tried PING from hostinvestigator .... but is it accurate? so far, dellhost, ultraspeedusa is among the fastest
    Well, a ping from hostinvestigator will accurately tell you information from hostinvestigator to the site you are pinging. Accurate is relative though, since the server you are pinging could be on the same network and even be sharing the same rack for all you know. *Or* it could be very far from the server on a different network. These factors can throw off the results of a ping (for obvious reasons).
    HostHideout.com - Where professionals discuss web hosting.

    • Chicken

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Posts
    37

    Question

    hmmmm ..... this makes a new guide in my shopping for a dedicated server.

    If you are currently hosting a dedicated server from these company, could you reply me with the URL so that i can judge their speed accessing from asia. Thank you

    catalog.com
    dialtoneinternet.com
    tera-byte.com

    aaron

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2000
    Location
    netherlands
    Posts
    6
    hello
    thank you for your replies. I'm thinking of getting a dedicated server for hosting purposes for a small but growing market.

    unfortunately i know little about webhosting and related subjects.
    I need a dedicated server with a control panel which would make everything real easy. Any suggestions ?

    Also, how do i take care of creditcard charges, which companies does it reliable and cheap?

    I think i will start with 1gb $5 .. sounds reasonable ???

    thanks
    Jointhis

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
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    Originally posted by Keeg
    so Duster you're right, we do rely on the law of averages, and we do rely on the fact that people always want more bang for their buck. Is it dishonest? I don't think so, I call it marketing.
    There is no doubt whatsoever. It is most assuredly not dishonest nor is it even a question of marketing. As long as a customer would receive the bandwidth usage they contracted for, even though most never will, it is immaterial to them how it is done or that most won't use it.

    They don't need to know that high traffic (and/or high cpu usage) accounts are moved to less populated servers, or any other details. Wht is importna tis that they will get their alloted bandwidth if they ever reach that point, as a minority will. (Actually, some people wil want to know how it is done as they distinguish the lying hosting companies from the reliable ones)

    Unlimited bandwidth - now that's dishonest even though it makes use of the same law of averages. The difference is that it promises something that people can't get.

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