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  1. #1

    Hosting for inconsistent bandwidth?

    Hi everyone,

    I'm looking into getting some hosting for a personal site, with what can't be all that unique an expectation of bandwidth usage, but from the looks of almost every hosting plan, doesn't seem to be addressed.

    Most months, I expect to have quite low bandwidth usage (at most, a few GB). However, on occasions when I post some new content (particularly, if I've completed and uploaded a new movie file), if I get lucky and it's popular, I suspect used bandwidth might spike as high as 300GB in a month (based on reports from other people I know who have done the same), then trailing off back to a few GB/month.

    Other requirements aren't all that demanding; I don't plan on having anything particularly taxing on the CPU, and Linux is fine (even preferred). 2+GB storage ought to be more than enough, and I'd like to have support for multiple domains, subdomains, PHP with caching, MySQL, mod_rewrite, perhaps SFTP, email with generous incoming/outgoing attachment sizes (prefer more than 10MB), stats of some kind...nothing out of the ordinary from what I've found. In terms of control panel, CPanel 11 or H-Sphere would be fine. I have no opinion about others, since I've never demoed them. Ideally, I'd be paying $10 per month or less, half that if this hosting doesn't replace my .mac service.

    What it comes down to is how to get quality service without overpaying for bandwidth I don't necessarily need. One option, and the one that I think I'll probably end up going for, is to get an inexpensive plan from a host that oversells but still provides good service - that's exactly what intelligent overselling does best, letting a group of people each have a higher maximum bandwidth when needed because most of the time each user won't max out their account.

    [[ What I mean by quality service: negligible downtime, low latency, good (500kb/s+) data throughput up- and down-stream for those whose connections can handle it, email service that is always functional (even more important than the web hosting service) and can send and receive reliably to and from any email account with any provider as far as is within the host's ability to ensure, correct billing and handling of payment, hassle- and mix-up-free cancellation with same attention for any refunds on pre-paid service, and same-day support ticket response from people who know their stuff and can actually help me out. I'm not too picky about speed of response as long as stuff gets fixed within a day or two. (For $10/month or less? Yes, it can happen...aforementioned .mac service, for example, provides all this minus the PHP and MySQL and everything that makes a server more than a repository for files and HTML. ) ]]

    Still, I'm surprised there aren't more plans that directly address this need. I've only found three hosts that do: NearlyFreeSpeech.NET, which offers a pay-for-what-you-use model (which could work for me if only I wasn't planning to have large files sitting on the server for extended periods of time), Hosting Puppy's Buck A Gig plan where you can buy more in $1-10GB bandwidth/month increments, and a host whose name escapes me that provided "Rollover Bandwidth" and supposedly trademarked that term, but who had some bad reviews or otherwise didn't interest me. (I don't remember why, exactly.)

    Does anyone know of any other high-quality hosts with plans that take variable month-to-month bandwidth needs into consideration?

    Like I mentioned, as it stands I'm likely to get a more-than-I-typically-need plan that's still inexpensive, but with enough headroom for the traffic spikes. My top choice at the moment looks to be DownTownHost, paid in advance (since I've read about and experienced very good service from them, and since their Shared Bronze plan, if I augment the bandwidth with my .mac account, ought to suffice for any spike unless my creations gain massive popularity ), with a runner-up being HostGator (if only their Hatchling plan supported multiple domains).

    So, what are your thoughts on what I should do? Also to hosts: anyone planning to offer variable month-to-month plans like this in the future?

  2. #2
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    I would recommend Hosting Puppy and Downtownhost, they are good. But never Hostgator, they oversells too massively.
    [ James Lee - Cloud & Web Hosting Specialist 10+ Years WHT Veteran]

    [ Magento Performance Consultation by Magento Master ]

  3. #3
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    Why do you think HostGator oversells "massively"?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt.G View Post
    Why do you think HostGator oversells "massively"?
    Don't you think 350GB Space and 3TB Bandwidth for $4.95 is abit too massive?
    [ James Lee - Cloud & Web Hosting Specialist 10+ Years WHT Veteran]

    [ Magento Performance Consultation by Magento Master ]

  5. #5
    ...which may hint at the quality of hosting, but is not conclusively indicative.

    Would if be futile if I asked people to stay on-topic?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by JLHC View Post
    I would recommend Hosting Puppy and Downtownhost, they are good.
    Thank you for the recommendation, greatly appreciated!

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by JLHC View Post
    Don't you think 350GB Space and 3TB Bandwidth for $4.95 is abit too massive?
    This is looks like whole dedicated server and I think that it cant cost so cheap.
    The price must be reasoned.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Weep View Post
    Still, I'm surprised there aren't more plans that directly address this need. I've only found three hosts that do: NearlyFreeSpeech.NET, which offers a pay-for-what-you-use model (which could work for me if only I wasn't planning to have large files sitting on the server for extended periods of time), Hosting Puppy's Buck A Gig plan where you can buy more in $1-10GB bandwidth/month increments...
    I'm not sure we would do what you're asking for on our budget plans (the Buck A Gig plans). You can certainly purchase only what you need, but it has to be paid in advance. If you had a Buck A Gig 1 plan with us (which comes with 10GB bandwidth) and you posted a new file that was popular enough to eat up that 10GB over night, your account would go into suspension until such time as you upgraded. I'm not sure if you understand that or if you're under the impression that you can pay in arrears for bandwidth usage which isn't allowed on the budget-level plans you're looking at.

    Hope that helps with the decision.

    Jon

  9. #9
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    The puppy is barking at the right door here

    Big spykes in usage won't be tolerated by most hosts that offer their services for budget/medium prices. And if you wish to try this you'll loose all that peak you will get in that month.
    Cheapest Multiple C Class IP Hosting

  10. #10
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    Smile

    Hello,

    Look for hosts that give you your normal amount of bandwidth, but be prepared to pay overage fees.

    Thanks,

    Centixa.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Centixa View Post
    Hello,

    Look for hosts that give you your normal amount of bandwidth, but be prepared to pay overage fees.

    Thanks,

    Centixa.
    I'd be very careful about the overage fees. The OP is talking about 300GB here. If he has a 50GB account and runs it over 6 times, he could be looking at a hefty bill.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Hosting Puppy - Jon View Post
    I'm not sure we would do what you're asking for on our budget plans (the Buck A Gig plans). You can certainly purchase only what you need, but it has to be paid in advance. If you had a Buck A Gig 1 plan with us (which comes with 10GB bandwidth) and you posted a new file that was popular enough to eat up that 10GB over night, your account would go into suspension until such time as you upgraded. I'm not sure if you understand that or if you're under the impression that you can pay in arrears for bandwidth usage which isn't allowed on the budget-level plans you're looking at.
    As long as one is able to notice that they are near (or over) their limit and then purchase more on the Buck-A-Gig plan, to be applied immediately, it's good enough for this purpose.

    Is that correct?

    Quote Originally Posted by cabron View Post
    Big spykes in usage won't be tolerated by most hosts that offer their services for budget/medium prices. And if you wish to try this you'll loose all that peak you will get in that month.
    This is why one needs to carefully pick their host. Do note that the kind of spike I'd expect is merely a spike in static data transfer, not in traffic or CPU use, where from what I've read on these forums, the latter is the more usual problem commodity on shared servers.

    Quote Originally Posted by Hosting Puppy - Jon View Post
    I'd be very careful about the overage fees. The OP is talking about 300GB here. If he has a 50GB account and runs it over 6 times, he could be looking at a hefty bill.
    Right.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Weep View Post
    As long as one is able to notice that they are near (or over) their limit and then purchase more on the Buck-A-Gig plan, to be applied immediately, it's good enough for this purpose.

    Is that correct?
    Yup, that's correct, although upgrades are a sales issue and will only be done between 8-8 mountain time in our case. So, immediately may or may not be the case depending on when the upgrade order came in.

    I should note, though, that our budget plans cap out at 10GB space and 100GB bandwidth so if you're serious about 300GB in a month, we won't be able to provide that in any case on a budget plan.

  14. #14
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    Ignore my post, Jon said he was going offline for a bit but somehow responded to this quicker than me!

  15. #15
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    Zoom zoom! I am tooooo fast for you!

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Hosting Puppy - Jon View Post
    Yup, that's correct, although upgrades are a sales issue and will only be done between 8-8 mountain time in our case. So, immediately may or may not be the case depending on when the upgrade order came in.
    Fair enough.

    I should note, though, that our budget plans cap out at 10GB space and 100GB bandwidth so if you're serious about 300GB in a month, we won't be able to provide that in any case on a budget plan.
    Thanks for the info, but just for reference, so does the plan on DownTownHost that I've been most seriously considering. I couldn't find anywhere on your site where you mention that limit - perhaps it'd be good to include?

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Weep View Post
    Fair enough.

    Thanks for the info, but just for reference, so does the plan on DownTownHost that I've been most seriously considering. I couldn't find anywhere on your site where you mention that limit - perhaps it'd be good to include?
    Yeah, I guess you're right. To be honest, it's never come up before. Most of our budget customers are all in the 1-3GB range. It would be obvious when you hit the signup page and 10GB is the biggest package you can choose from, but you're right in that it should be there sooner than that.

    In any event, I'm dangerously close to self promotion here so I think we've gone into all the detail we can here. Most hosts have live chat on their site, so you may be able to get a special deal or customized plan if you go that route.

    Good luck!

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