So what I ‘m gonna discuss this time is about what is unlimited hosting really mean.

Well you, me, us, seen it all over the place for this kind of offer, when we ‘re on our way to choose which web hosting is the right hosting for our need. Right? Here, there, and everywhere.. you ‘ll meet this unlimited plan offer. Just f-y-i, a.k.a for your information, there 2 main elements of a web hosting plan. Bandwidth and Disk space, or you can say disk space and bandwidth, both means the same anyway, either you ‘re saying it by disk space first or bandwidth first. (So why bother writing it with an OR? not really sure, whatever. )

Okay so, unlimited always attractive in some obvious ways. One thing for sure is it requires you no more thought. Well it ‘s unlimited right, you won ‘t have to worry about running it out. Right? Uh huh, it ‘s a common public thought. and that ‘s pretty much the main reason why this unlimited thingy being placed all over the place by web hosting providers to gain more clients or customers. While truth is always bitter, you ‘ll found out real soon that the real truth behind the unlimited-webhosting-offer scene is bitter even more.

Is Unlimited web hosting really Unlimited?

Nope. It ‘s NOT. It ‘s just an un-real thingY, with a capital Y. Why?
You know, here ‘re some facts you need to know why this unlimited offer thingy would never happened, not in this lifetime near future,

1. Disk space is “the” space where you ‘d allot on server as your website storage. It cost money. Check.
2. Bandwidth is “the” amount of data capacity transferred from the server to visitor’s browser to display requested web pages. It cost money also. Check.
3. Graphics, web pages, flash files, other file formats stored on server and requested by visitors browser consume bandwidth. Check.
4. Network lines that would carry data all over the web have its finite capacity, and it’s limited at any point at a time. Check.
5. Hard drive of a server always has limited amount of space depends on how big the hard drive is, in a matter of capacity. There ‘re no such thing as hard drive with unlimited capacity. Check.
6. 5 points above, all cost lotsa money. Check.
7. All web hosting providers have this contract with their own ISP for their internet connection. Which is Limited. So with this capability they have there never will be a chance they could provide unlimited bandwidth for their customers. Check.

Make sense?
Let ‘s go thru some more deeper then..

Yet Another Humpty Dumpty Speaking

Christopher Heng of sitewizard dot com, explained it wide plus in a great way how this unlimited term is just another humpty dumpty speaking. Here I quoted a bit :

In Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass”, Humpty Dumpty redefined the meaning of the word “glory” to mean “a nice knock-down argument”. When Alice, to whom he was speaking, protested that that was not the correct meaning of the word, Humpty Dumpty replied:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

So, when you find web hosting providers use this unlimited term to say that you would have unlimited disk space and/or bandwidth, it always get redefined to some other definitions at their own discretion. While the real meaning of it may vary from one provider to another, surprisingly – the real definition is always an antonym of “unlimited” you ‘d found in the English dictionary. Funny? Not really.

They Always Define What’s their “Unlimited” Term Really Means.

Really?
Yeah, seriously.

Always look at their fine print, the Term of Use. They always explained the further definitions of their-so-called-unlimited-hosting. Here ‘s an example of it from one web hosting provider, how unlimited disk space being redefined, on its fine print:

1. “you can add as much content as you want, but maybe not all at once“
   
   Real english meaning : You can NOT use the unlimited disk space in one shot. You should use some amount first, and then add some more at some other different time. The amount you could use in one same ride never really explained. Who ‘d decide how big is it, each time? The provider, pretty obvious.
2. “The vast majority of our customers’ sites grow at rates well within our rules, however, and will not be impacted by this constraint“
   
   Real english meaning : How many amount in Mega bytes you could use by the first row, at which rate you could have the disk space increased, is ain’t stated. Long story short, it never really let you to get to know how much capacity you could really use. Yet you ‘ve forced to do so, without any objections at any forms.

So All Unlimited Offers are Humpty Dumpty?

Well, not exactly. When it comes to disk space and/or bandwidth, yeah it is. To be precise, it should be. But when I see one web hosting provider advertise on its landing page that they offer unlimited email accounts, it might be true. Although I never really tested it out to their real limits, but these kind of features are usually being limited already by other aspects of your account – I ‘m referring to disk space – which is it may be the reason why the host provider doesn’t really bother to restrict the number of email account you’d use.

There you go, you ‘ve know the whole scenario behind “unlimited plans.
So, what now?

Best Practices

Plan it ahead. You should really calculate the type of disk space and bandwidth you ‘ll gonna need for your site(s) and then multiply ‘em by two or more than 2 – for some expansion purposes.

When you ‘ve felt into these kind of scheme and found out this real truth a lil bit too late and you ‘re facing the fact that you ‘ve really used all maximum amount of this so-called-unlimited-plans of your hosting provider, you ‘ll get your self shutdown and being forced to upgrade to some higher package, such as VPS (Virtual Private Server) or Dedicated Server. This pretty much the real situation some publisher buddies of mine confessed me some while back, so choosing a dedicated server plan is always a great leap and getaway for you who ‘ve already have some developed websites with some real serious traffics.

For the Sake of the Mother Earth

What ‘s up with Saving the Planet slogan? I ‘m all virtual here. The internet never really has anything to do with this Planet and its break down. Right? Or, is it?

Well, buddy, internet is all virtual. But all machines that run the whole internet thingy are physically existed on this planet. It took resources and spit some waste to this planet’s surfaces, cores and atmosphere. So yeah, the internet and the whole technology run along with it took part on destroying this mother earth. Taking your part of saving it in any available forms is always a good use for the earth.

So you ‘re a Green Peace kind of person now?
I am, and I always will be. Not that I ‘m one of its active member who took part in every demo and act to save the planet, no. Like I mentioned above, I took a part on my own act, in some available form for me. Well, I ‘m a web developer, I used web hosting services alot, so green hosting plan is one real form for me as taking part of this saving-the-planet act.

All in all

Get your self educated a bit more about how web hosting providers do their business by referring to their Terms of use is always a wise move. Do your researches on Web hosting review such as WHG, is one real move. Do choose green hosting to take your part on saving our lovely environment for the sake of this planet and our grand and grand grand children – is way way noble move of all.

Just IMHO. That ‘s that. I ‘m out.