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  1. #1

    InMotion - false advertising

    InMotion claims unlimited montly transfer in their ad:

    http://www.inmotionhosting.com/hostingplans.html

    I called and chatted, and stated I needed 100GB per month. They responded that their shared hosting plans don't support this and that I would need VPS instead.

    I then tried to pinpoint the actual number by asking about 1GB/month, 10GB/month, ... but the response was there's no set number, just that business sites wouldn't reach 100GB / month.

    I already filed a complaint with BBB, will update on how that goes.

  2. #2
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    I already filed a complaint with BBB, will update on how that goes.
    The BBB has no real teeth. Worst case scenario, the host gets a bad BBB rating, which the host may deem to be inconsequential.

  3. #3
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    Interesting... Well, after looking at their website InMotion needs to be a lot more clear if there are restrictions. Having Monthly Transfer Included (GB) with unlimited next to it is extremely misleading. It might be something as simple as the person you spoke with didn't know. Maybe they where new or to lazy to ask a supervisor / manager in regards. Perhaps we InMotion will post in regards to why it states 'unlimited' when they clearly do not offer it.

    On a site note there is no such thing as 'unlimited' or 'unmetered'. Any professional in the Web Hosting Industry should cringe when they hear these two words. Why InMotion would put 'unlimited' is beyond me.
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  4. #4
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    I don't see why this is so shocking - you could call up any host offering unlimited and end up with similar answers. The only difference is some will just give generic responses where as others will straight up tell you that you can't use more than Xgb per month.

    If you want to know what the limits are - you need to sign up with a plan that has limits. Keep in mind that there is little difference between a plan that offers 500gb of transfer and 1,000gb of transfer and "Unlimited" transfer.
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  5. #5
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    Loads of hosts do this. It annoys me (and many others) since it *is* false advertising, but surely common sense would tell you that "unlimited" doesn't exist?

    If it did, why wouldn't Google use InMotion (or HostGator, etc) instead of spending millions per year in hosting?

    I'd like to see a law passed (in the UK, US, by the EU Commission etc) whereby hosts couldn't offer such things (since it can and will confuse some customers) since it's impossible and false advertising, although I'm not holding my breath.
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  6. #6
    In this case it was very annoying, as I spent 15 minutes discussing this in a chat. I quickly find that 100GB is "too much" for what is advertised as "unlimited", but then I can't get any further information other than the real limit is somewhere between 0GB and 100GB per month.
    Last edited by jeffareid; 07-08-2009 at 04:33 PM.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by ldcdc View Post
    The BBB has no real teeth. Worst case scenario, the host gets a bad BBB rating, which the host may deem to be inconsequential.
    Agreed. The problem is the BBB will happily give you a bad rating with no substance, and subsequently charge you to investigate/dispute/respond to that. Extortion.

    Google is much better.
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by jeffareid View Post
    In this case it was very annoying, as I spent 15 minutes discussing this in a chat. I quickly find that 100GB is "too much" for what is advertised as "unlimited", but then I can't get any further information other than the real limit is somewhere between 0GB and 100GB per month.
    Hehe yes, that's the problem with unlimited. There's no real limits and ever if a host doesn't actively say their upper limit, there definitely is one and it won't be all that high. So it usually is best to go for a host with real limits
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by The-Pixel View Post
    On a site note there is no such thing as 'unlimited' or 'unmetered'.
    Unlimited != unmetered. Unmetered does exist and is what "unlimited" really is. It means they aren't monitoring your bandwidth, but there are still shared resources policies on things like CPU/RAM. Policies you will find at almost every host, unlimited or not.
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  10. #10
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    "Unmetered" doesn't really apply to disk space because it's not something that has to be created every month to exist. You can upload a file once and then use the space for that file for several months without re-uploading the file. Where as transfer is something that has to happen on a monthly basis and thus could be unmetered.

    At least that's how I see things personally.
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by DH - Tristan Perry View Post
    I'd like to see a law passed (in the UK, US, by the EU Commission etc) whereby hosts couldn't offer such things (since it can and will confuse some customers) since it's impossible and false advertising, although I'm not holding my breath.
    I read somewhere that there was a law going through in the UK that would try to tackle this. I say try because it's next to impossible with all the kiddy hosts popping up.

  12. #12
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    Maybe not with a hosting plan...

    But all my servers are in a 2 server centers and I have "unmetered" on all machines, this is not a gimick either, I know the server centers have nothing attached to mesure or control my bandwidth, I have to do that myself.
    But I do not offer this to my clients because, I too would not stand by it.
    But as I said in another post, I would not do or say anything to my clients that I would not accept someone doing to me. Hell, my customers are faceless, but they are people too!!!
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  13. #13
    sometime is so sad to know that such thing is one of the tactic to make income

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by DH - Tristan Perry View Post
    Loads of hosts do this. It annoys me (and many others) since it *is* false advertising, but surely common sense would tell you that "unlimited" doesn't exist?

    If it did, why wouldn't Google use InMotion (or HostGator, etc) instead of spending millions per year in hosting?

    I'd like to see a law passed (in the UK, US, by the EU Commission etc) whereby hosts couldn't offer such things (since it can and will confuse some customers) since it's impossible and false advertising, although I'm not holding my breath.
    The problem with this logic is what happens about users who get suspended for CPU usage on say 15GB of bandwidth? It does happen because users make poorly made scripts or get large amounts of traffic with little transfer of actual data. Sounds like false advertising as well. The fact is hosting has space and bandwidth which cost nothing then the actual system resources of the servers which does cost money. The system resources are just not sold as part of the hosting package where it says you get x amount of CPU units. That is way too confusing for the users so it's an invisible line 99.9% of users do not cross.
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  15. #15
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    I think most host companies are doing false advertising for years.

    Just look at those 2000 GB a month for 5$ plans or unlimited plans.

    If you call them they will all tell you the same. That you will just dont get to that on a shared plan. I think its false advertising as well but nobody cares, hosts get away with this for years.

    Instea of saying 100 GB will costs you 50$ a month they just lie and scream unlimited. If you go the chat or call they will all tell you you cannot use that. Some are the worst ones and actually say you cant and take your money anyway just to see your account suspended after hitting 70 GB transfer.

    They always claim CPU usage which is not truth. I have seing websites consume 300 GB in one night, easily with some popular downloads and they dont even hit the mark stast on a server. They dont even appear on TOP or usage report at all. Of course hosts will lie here and tell you its CPU.

    You can use 1000GB a month hosting a software without using any CPU compared to that other guy hosting Wordpress with a millions of plugins. Still they will find a way to kick you our of their UNLIMITED transfer plan.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by keliix06 View Post
    Unlimited != unmetered. Unmetered does exist and is what "unlimited" really is. It means they aren't monitoring your bandwidth, but there are still shared resources policies on things like CPU/RAM. Policies you will find at almost every host, unlimited or not.
    Unmetered is exactly what you said. They dont monitor the bandwith. Dont try to match the word. Its not unlimited. Unlimited is not unmetered and they are not equal.

    Look the dictionary. Unlimited is false advertising. I can assure you they dont put on their advertising the resources policies on things like CPU/RAM you just said. They just advertise unlimited where its not. So its false.

    Its like putting an AD. Acer One Notebook for 5$. And then you call its 5$ a month in 20 payments. They should had put that on the ad on small print. This is ilegal in some countries as its called false advertising. Same applies when you put Unlimited. The minute someone is tricked is false advertising.
    Last edited by nibb; 07-09-2009 at 02:38 AM.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by nexxterra View Post
    But all my servers are in a 2 server centers and I have "unmetered" on all machines, this is not a gimick either, I know the server centers have nothing attached to mesure or control my bandwidth, I have to do that myself.
    But I do not offer this to my clients because, I too would not stand by it.
    But as I said in another post, I would not do or say anything to my clients that I would not accept someone doing to me. Hell, my customers are faceless, but they are people too!!!
    No its not. Your datacenter is paying for their connections. Lets say 1 Gigabit or 20 pipes if they have.

    First of all your are limited on the nic of your servers. Even if they are 100 NIc card os 1000 Nic cards, there is a limit.

    Second, I can assure you will not get sustained burst, lets say of 100 mbits per second for days. The datacenters that share unlimited servers put clients on a shared switch. So if the switch has 20 servers connected to it and 500 Megabit internet connection, your all using that and fighting for it on the port.

    You cannot expect to get, lets say a 100 mbit unmetered connection which costs 2000$ a month or less, for 100$ a month.

    This offers normally dont go over 10 mbits of speed. Dont be tricked by that. Datacenters can cheat just as hosts do.

    There arent any datacenters in the world that let you use as much as you can for a fixed price. They will never let you use sustained more then what you paid for. The minute they are losing money the game is over for you.

    So if you pay 200$ a month for an unmetered server, expect to be able to use transfer for less then 200$ a month.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by nibb View Post
    Unmetered is exactly what you said. They dont monitor the bandwith. Dont try to match the word. Its not unlimited. Unlimited is not unmetered and they are not equal.

    Look the dictionary. Unlimited is false advertising. I can assure you they dont put on their advertising the resources policies on things like CPU/RAM you just said. They just advertise unlimited where its not. So its false.
    Please see the post I quoted. That user equated unlimited to unmetered, my entire post was dedicated to showing that's not the case.
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  19. #19
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    300 GB in one night, easily with some popular downloads
    I can tell you right now unless its one 300GB download then your right, but if you have 3000 people on your site downloading a 10mb file your in some real trouble. Just think about opening your internet explorer 3000 times your computer will likely freeze up pretty quick.
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