Is "unlimited Web Hosting" A Scam?

Many people are generally unaware of the logistics of website hosting and want nothing

more than to find a quick and easy solution to put their website online so the world can see it. They don't want to sort through the often-confusing specifications of bandwidth and disc storage space capacity so when they see that some hosting companies provide what they call "unlimited web hosting," it seems like the right solution to take. Particularly when they can use seemingly unlimited web hosting resources for a bargain basement price tag each month.

But before you make the mistake of confusing the term unlimited web hosting to mean that the web hosting provider is actually providing true unlimited resources, you may want to read the fine print.

The fact of the matter is that "unlimited" has become a relative term, at least in this instance. There are always limitations on the space available and the bandwidth allotted for a hosting account, but hosting providers can get away with touting them as unlimited because they know that the vast majority of websites use miniscule amounts of the provider's resources.

In response to the limited resources that most of these websites actually use, the provider is able to capitalize on the excess bandwidth and CPU power by engaging in a practice called "over selling." Now, while the term may initially put you off a bit, it's not really a shady way to do business. All the hosting provider is doing when they over sell hosting space is taking an educated guess on how much of the total allotment of resources are available and capitalizing on the excess by selling additional chunks of hosting to more customers.

They typically allow a large quantity (or even "unlimited") amount of websites to be hosted on a single account knowing that 99 (or more) websites out of 100 will use that miniscule amount of resources. Now, in the case of a website and/or a few websites located on a particular server using a large amount of resources, the hosting provider will then contact the administrator of the account and offer them a hosting package that will better suit the increased needs of the website, sometimes after pulling the site in question offline. This is to keep the resource-heavy website from interfering with the quality of service the provider supplies to the rest of its customers.

So "unlimited web hosting" does, in fact, have its limitations. There are several criteria of limitations that are applied to unlimited web hosting, including RAM, bandwidth, CPU queries, FTP uploads, and the number of MySQL databases being utilized. Each of these can trigger an automatic or even manual review of the website in question.

But is unlimited web hosting a scam? Not at all. In fact, it allows reputable, trustworthy website hosting providers that offer it additional revenue to grow and support their customers. However, as a consumer it is always good to know the limitations on anything touted as "unlimited" before you buy so it's a good idea to check these limitations with your hosting provider first.

by: Shane Stafford

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