Category: Web Hosting Articles > More "Web Hosting" Articles

Bandwidth explained:

Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you are allowed to have for a hosting package i.e. Let’s say you have a web page that is 48KB in size, now each time a user opens your site and goes to that page s/he downloads 48 KB of information on to their computer. If 100 users view that page one time each then there has been a total of 4800 KB of data transferred from the server on which your files are stored for the computer of users.

Size of web Page: 48 KB
Number of users who viewed the web page: 100 Total amount of data transferred: 48KB * 100 = 4800 KB

Bandwidth is the term that is used to denote the amount of data that has been transferred from your web space.

The amount of bandwidth that you require while choosing a host depends on two factors:

> The size of your site.
> The popularity of your site.

If your site is not very huge, and you do not have any audio/video downloads, and it’s not very popular i.e. not a lot of people visit your site, then you do not really require a lot of bandwidth. On average, a web site uses up only 500 MB of bandwidth per month. Or if your site is small but extremely popular then you might have to go for a web hosting package that offers high bandwidth.

On the other hand if your web site is huge, providing audio/video downloads, as well as being very popular then you would certainly require a huge amount of bandwidth. Let’s say you have a video file that is 150 MB in size and in a single day a 100 visitors download the file. This means that 15 GB of bandwidth will have been used. If you multiply that by 30 days for the month it comes to 450 GB.


The unlimited bandwidth controversy

For some time now a lot of hosting companies are supposedly providing "unlimited bandwidth" for their web hosting packages.

It’s absolutely true, you can have unlimited bandwidth. However, you will need an unlimited amount of money by your side! Jokes apart, if you ever come across such a host it would be best to turn around and run back the way you came from.

Just think, if you can get unlimited bandwidth for $25-30 a month then why aren’t big companies like Sun, Microsoft etc. not hosted there? In fact, why isn't everyone hosted there? For that matter, if unlimited is a standard feature then why don’t all the hosts offer it? Is it because it is expensive and requires better hardware? No, it’s because some hosts are honest and don’t give in to such gimmicks.

Statistically speaking, a T1 Internet connection (huge broadband) equals approximately 500GB per month and costs around $1200 per month. So how can it be possible to get the same or unlimited for $30 a month?

There are a lot of ways you can be duped by these ‘unlimited’ hosts; here are just a few of them:

The secret of ‘unlimited’ is actually buried in the Terms of Service by the host. Do not be surprised to find that unlimited = 15 GB.

The host may restrict the sort of files that you can host on their server.
Generally image galleries and audio/video files attract a lot more downloads thereby resulting in higher bandwidth consumption. So if there are no files of this type, your site won’t really require a lot of bandwidth.

Some newly opened hosts use it as a scam. They take your money and after a few months when their server starts to become slow or reaches its limit, they run... with your money!

Some hosts outline in their Terms of Service that you can have unlimited bandwidth as long as you qualify for it. i.e. Your site must use less then, let’s say, 2 GB of bandwidth in order to qualify for the unlimited bandwidth feature. As soon as your site goes over that limit they either start charging you for it or cut off your downloads altogether.

In life it’s a universal truth that you always get what you pay for, and it’s no different for web hosting.

If a host is using a cheap advertising gimmick like ‘unlimited’ bandwidth they may be lying about a few other things too. Their ‘dedicated’ support team could be a single person (the hoster itself in most cases) sitting in front of a computer and taking your calls.

Do you really want unlimited bandwidth hosting from hosts that have very limited resources at their disposal? Or, do you want to go for a host that has spent thousands of dollars on setting up a good network infrastructure, servers, and a highly qualified and dedicated support team? The choice ultimately is yours and yours alone.


By Ashish Jain
M6.Net Web Helpers
http://www.m6.net
 

Monitor the availability and performance of one website FREE from multiple locations around the world!
Visit InternetSupervision now!

Category: Web Hosting Articles > More "Web Hosting" Articles

One of the most controversial topics surrounding web hosting is the practice of overselling bandwidth, and rightfully so. The practice of overselling has enormous potential for disaster – ask any webmaster who has ever woken up to a cold, unforgiving “Bandwidth Exceeded” message where his or her site should be. The risk of such outages is all too real, and the cleanup effort for network bandwidth outages is a long and arduous process.

Unfortunately, it is a risk that every webmaster must take. The nature of the web hosting business does not allow you to eliminate the risk, only to mitigate it to the best of your ability. In this article, we’ll explore the relationship between overstated bandwidth claims and website downtime. As a professional webmaster, you have a responsibility to balance cost and risk when choosing a web hosting plan. This article aims to clarify the pros and cons of one of the most common risky practices so that you can make a more informed decision when choosing your web host.

Unlimited Bandwidth

As the web hosting market has grown more and more competitive over the years, hosting companies have increasingly begun to tout "unlimited bandwidth" or "unmetered bandwidth" as a major selling point of their hosting plans. These claims are generally seen as nothing more than a marketing ploy. After all, no web hosting company could truly offer you unlimited bandwidth, since the bandwidth of the hosting company, network, and even the Internet itself is physically limited.

Ok, let’s be fair here. The limitations I’m talking about are almost incomprehensible and would never be reached by a single site. A hosting company could offer virtually unlimited bandwidth (or "unmetered bandwidth" or whatever phrase they choose to keep the lawyers at bay). This is the gray area between truth and falsehood upon which marketing claims feed.

The simple truth is that bandwidth costs money. It costs your web hosting company money, which in turn costs you money. The more megabytes of bandwidth your hosting company gives you for your dollar, the less profit they make. The only reason that a web host is able to make unlimited bandwidth incentives possible is because most websites use only a fraction of the bandwidth available to them. The more websites a hosting company hosts, the easier it is for them to make very accurate predictions about how much will actually be used. If those predictions tell them that over the course of any given month the large traffic spikes will be averaged out and still remain profitable, then they can safely offer unlimited bandwidth and remain profitable.

The practical upshot of this is twofold: Firstly, marketing claims are not necessarily outright falsehoods, but they’re not to be implicitly trusted either. Secondly, if you are signed up under a "unmetered bandwidth" hosting plan and you consistently use enough bandwith to blow the curve, you can expect a phone call from your hosting company. These calls usually involve friendly sales people trained in the art of the upsell, and are almost invariably concluded with an invitation to read the fine print of your hosting contract.

Overselling

Unlimited bandwidth claims get a lot of press, but the real danger lurks in the practice of overselling bandwidth. Like the man behind the curtain, overselling is the cause of real problems but is frequently overlooked because of the attention devoted to the front man.

What is overselling? Quite simply, overselling is the practice of selling your customers more bandwidth than you actually have. It’s the same practice airlines use when booking seats, though if you were to extend the analogy it would result in airplanes that crashed because they were to full. Please accept my apologies for the use of an overly dramatic comparison, but I want to make it very clear that it is the practice of irresponsible overselling that leads to costly site outages.

To be fair, most web hosting companies are responsible. Just as the airlines monitor the number of people that actually board the plane, the hosting companies continuously monitor their bandwidth usage to make sure they do not exceed their limits and everyone’s site stays up and running. If they don’t, then one website can use up everyone else’s bandwidth and inadvertently shut down all the sites using that pipe. That’s not the fault of the site owner – it’s the fault of an irresponsible web hosting company.

Almost every web hosting company oversells their bandwidth. A hosting company that offers unlimited bandwidth plans is, by definition, overselling their bandwidth. The point I really want to drive home is that the risk of overselling exists even if the web hosting company DOES NOT OFFER unlimited bandwidth. Clear enough? You are not safe simply because you have selected a hosting plan with a fixed bandwidth allotment. If you select a web host that offers unlimited bandwidth on any plan, you are DEFINITELY at risk of overselling problems. If you select a webhost that offers only fixed bandwidth plans, you are PROBABLY at risk.

Choosing a Web Host

In my opinion, unlimited bandwidth claims are only superficially related to real problems with your web hosting company. Yes, I have had a web site unceremoniously shut down without notification by a web hosting provider because of excessive bandwidth usage. And yes, it was an unlimited bandwidth plan. It was a costly experience. The tech simply shut down the site and went to lunch. The hosting company was unresponsive. Money was lost.

But looking back on the experience, it wasn’t a limited vs. unlimited issue. It was a bad hosting company issue. I am utterly convinced that we would have received the same treatment had we exceeded a stated bandwidth limit – I’ve seen that happen as well with a different site and a different web host.

The commonality is the integrity and responsibility of the web host, not the claims made by their marketing department. When you deal with super cheap, fly-by-night resellers, you will have problems. Guaranteed. When you deal with reputable, well established hosting companies you will get phone calls. Sure, you will have to pay a little more, but it is well worth it to anyone who has experienced firsthand the same mind-boggling incompetence I have.

I don’t get hung up on hype, be it from a marketing department or from fellow webmasters. Choosing a web host should be a rational decision, based primarily on the inherent competence of the hosting company, and secondarily on plan value. If I see an unlimited bandwidth plan from a highly reputable web host, I’m going to jump on it – it’s a great value until you get that call.

That’s my opinion on unlimited bandwidth web hosting. The fact is that correlation is not causation. Be a responsible webmaster – make your own decisions. Research your hosting options by using a web hosting comparison service. If you do your research carefully and base your decisions on facts, you're far less likely to get burned.

Nate Landerman is the founder and CEO of iNetpublication, a site dedicated to providing webmasters with the tools they need to create and maintain successful websites.

Unlimited Bandwidth and Overselling
(c) 2005 iNetpublication Web Services.

Category: Web Hosting Articles > More "Web Hosting" Articles

You can't browse today without running into some cheap hosting reference, there are many cheap web hosting packages online being offered, but with so many options to choose from, it makes cheap Internet hosting a totally confusing topic. This may seem confusing to you, but it is actually costing many online marketers headaches, many of which could have been avoided if they knew what to look for. That is why I created this report to help you figure out the 5 things you should know before choosing a cheap hosting package:

1) Required Bandwidth
This is the most important aspect of your business, if you exceed bandwidth your web host will shut you down without warning. Well, that actually happened to me and I must say, I could have avoided that if I knew how to calculate my bandwidth.

Formula for bandwidth per day: Total bandwidth = page views * visits per day * page size.

If your site gets 100 visits per day, 2 page views per visit and site size of 35 KiloBytes: Total bandwidth = 100 * 2 * 35 = 7000 KB = 7 MB (Megabytes) Per month: 30 * 7 MB = 210 MB (2.1 GByte)

You can host this site with a 5 GBytes cheap web hosting package, you will have enough bandwidth to host a small site, with considerations for expansion a 10GByte package would be sufficient. But, why pay for only 10 GB, while you can get 250GB for the same price, with a multiple domain name hosting plan. We are referring to transfer bandwidth, don't confuse that with storage.

2) Multiple Domain Names
Now, this is where the web hosting provider offers a cheap hosting package and adds multiple domain names to the deal, you go wow, but that's the trap, you go and divide up your hosting, and then when you least expect it, your account exceeds bandwidth. To avoid this you need hosting packages that has over 100 GB of transfer bandwidth to be able to host a minimum of 5 domains. For more domains you will need a much bigger package.

3) Unlimited Domain Names
This is just a catchy phrase that web hosting providers use to lure you in, it makes no sense going for unlimited domains when your transfer bandwidth is just 10 GB or 50 GB, that is just a rip off. Stay clear of those, they are not trustworthy.

4) Unlimited Bandwidth
No web hosting provider would be able to stay in business if they were to offer each client a unlimited cheap hosting package for just $7.95 per month.They are hoping for many sign-ups, just to balance the distribution, but if your web site really uses much bandwidth, they would easily shut you down, because you're costing them money.

5) Storage
I must say, I have never seen anyone exceed the storage for any hosting account, but if you're into video or mp3, then you will need o make sure your web hosting provider has adequate storage space available.You know experience is the master at learning what works, and what doesn't. Should you do encounter a bad deal, don't mope, go do your own research and find a better host.

This report shows you exactly what to look before choosing cheap hosting, take your time and analyze your needs, but I recommend going with cheap Internet hosting provider that has more then enough bandwidth for your future growth.

Alexander Marlin
For top recommended cheap hosting providers that has proven to be trustworthy, one of the hosting companies I personally use: how-to-build-website.com/anhosting.html

Category: Web Hosting Articles > More "Web Hosting" Articles

If you've ever started a new Internet business, you're probably quite familiar with the siren's song of cheap web hosting. But while most webmasters simply wrinkle their noses at the merest suggestion of budget hosting, I prefer a more holistic approach to the topic.

Every business decision is a balance between cost and benefit. For the neophyte webmaster, it's easy to forget this principle and blindly follow the well-intentioned advice of industry veterans. Normally, this is a good thing to do. But no advice should be followed blindly, especially when it comes to your business. For all their experience and expertise, none of those gimlet-eyed webmasters have the perspective to say exactly what is right for your particular set of circumstances.

Before you cast aside cheap web hosting as a viable option for your site, consider this: Very few eCommerce sites see much traffic at all in their initial start-up period. Much of the work you’ll be doing over the coming months and years will be largely experimental – testing traffic and consumer response from a number of different advertising sources, honing and tweaking your site, and generally figuring out how to build your business.

During the initial phases of any new online venture, I always host my sites on a cheap web host. For me, there's no need to buy an expensive dedicated server or rack space for a project that very well might not pan out at all. Even if it does pan out, I find very little benefit in paying the additional cost in those early months when my traffic is practically nil. The key for me is choosing a low-cost hosting plan that has a decent reputation for uptime and service, and leaves room for growth.

In short, I walk the web hosting line. I don't overbuy hosting for any of my web sites, I buy what they need. For a new site, this generally means shared .NET hosting in the $10 per month range. As the sites grow, I add on a-la-carte features such as SSL certificates. When traffic or disk space begins to stretch the bounds of the original plan, I look to upgraded packages wherever I might find them. With a bit of shopping around, you can sometimes find really good deals on hosting – I recently found a VPS plan that was cheaper than my current shared plan.

Which brings me to my next point – Don't be afraid of migrating to a new web host. When done properly, the switch can be made quite seamlessly and with no downtime (I'll cover the exact procedure I follow in a later article.) Being able to change web hosting providers easily and effectively is one of the simplest ways a webmaster can shave dollars off of his or her hosting budget. I recently had a site hosted on a shared Windows server for $4.99 per month with unlimited bandwidth. That sounds like a great deal unless you happen to know (as I do) that this particular hosting company has a tendancy to shut sites off that consume too much bandwidth. When I found that my site was starting to garner more and more hits per day, I simply switched it over to a new host. The money I had saved in the meantime allowed the site to be profitable, and that always makes me feel good. And the best part is that I accomplished this with no interruption of service and very little effort.

The bottom line is that cheap web hosting isn't necessarily bad. If your site isn't pulling in that much revenue, your hosting costs could be the only thing that stand in the way of profitability. All it takes is a little research into the hosting company you plan on using. Make sure that it has a good reputation as being reliable (look it up on my web hosting review site to help with that) and that it gives you just enough of what you need to start out. Make sure you keep a very close eye on it, and have your next move planned already when it gets close to migration time.

I have just one final note to offer. Don't for a minute assume that because a plan is priced higher than a competitor it is automatically more reliable or robust. In my many hours of comparing, aggregating, and reviewing hosting plans I have found that price is usually the least reliable means of comparison. Always look to quality above all else, and your site will be the revenue producing machine you've always envisioned.

Category: Web Hosting Articles > More "Web Hosting" Articles

How Much Bandwidth / Monthly Transfer Do You Need?
Bandwidth is the measurement of the amount of data transmitted over an internet connection in a given time. The majority of web hosting companies will set monthly limits. Some of these hosts will allow overselling which means your site will remain up but you receive a bill for the extra amount used others will simply pull the plug until next month.

Bandwidth explained:
Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you are allowed to have for a hosting package i.e. Let's say you have a web page that is 48KB in size, now each time a user opens your site and goes to that page S/he downloads 48 KB of information on to their computer. If a 100 users view that page one time each then there has been a total of 4800 KB of data transferred from the server on which your files are stored for the computer of users.

Size of web Page: 48 KB
Number of users who viewed the web page: 100
Total amount of data transferred: 48KB * 100 = 4800 KB

Bandwidth is the term that is used to denote the amount of data that has been transferred from your web space. The amount of bandwidth that you require while choosing a host depends on two factors:

1. The size of your site.
2. The popularity of your site.

If your site is not very big, and you do not have any audio/video downloads, and it's not very popular, i.e. not a lot of people visit your site, then you do not really require a lot of bandwidth. On a average a web site uses up only 500 MB of bandwidth per month. Or if your site is small but extremely popular then you might have to go for a web hosting package that offers high bandwidth.

On the other hand if your web site is huge, providing audio/video downloads, as well as being very popular, then you would certainly require a huge amount of bandwidth. Let's say you have a video file that is 150 MB in size and in a single day a 100 visitors download the file. This means that 15 GB of bandwidth will have been used. If you multiply that by 30 days for the month it comes to 450 GB.

Unlimited Bandwidth
Many website hosting companies offer "unlimited bandwidth" as part of their web hosting packages. It's absolutely true, you can have unlimited bandwidth. However, you will need an unlimited amount of money by your side! Jokes apart, if you ever come across such a host it would be best to turn around and run back the way you came from. Any web hosting company claiming "Unlimited Bandwidth" is simply lying. There's no such thing as "Unlimited Bandwidth".

In the real world, we've never seen any broadband company offering an internet connection as "Unlimited Megabytes Per Second." So, how could a web hosting company, which normally doesn't even own its own access lines, claims to customers that it will give them "Unlimited Bandwidth"? I have yet to come across a hard disk with unlimited disk space either.

Just think, if you can get unlimited bandwidth for $25-30 a month then why aren't big companies like Sun, Microsoft etc. not hosted there? In fact, why isn't everyone hosted there? For that matter, if unlimited is a standard feature then why don't all website hosting companies offer it? Is it because the hardware is expensive? No, it's because some hosts are honest and don't give in to such gimmicks.

There are a lot of ways you can be duped by these 'unlimited' hosts; here are just a few of them:

1. The secret of 'unlimited' is actually buried in the Terms of Service by the host. Do not be surprised to find that unlimited only equals 900mb or so.

2. The host may restrict the sort of files that you can host on their server. Generally image galleries and audio/video files attract a lot more downloads thereby resulting in higher bandwidth consumption. So if there are no files of this type, your site won't really require a lot of bandwidth.

3. Some newly opened hosts use it as a scam. They take your money and after a few months when their server starts to become slow or reaches its limit, they run with your money!

4. Some hosts outline in their Terms of Service that you can have unlimited bandwidth as long as you qualify for it. i.e. Your site must use less then, let's say 2 GB of bandwidth in order to qualify for the unlimited bandwidth feature. As soon as your site goes over that limit they either start charging you for it or cut off your downloads altogether.

In life it's absolutely true that you you always get what you pay for, and it's no different for web hosting. If a host is using a cheap advertising gimmick like 'unlimited bandwidth' they maybe lying about a few other things too.

In short: Website Hosting Companies offering "Unlimited Bandwidth" to attract customers need to be avoided. Most of the time, high bandwidth sites on these "Unlimited" plans will be disconnected, and no refund given or will end up with a large bill at the end of the month that they had not counted on. Normally, the web hosting company will simply say that the site violated its Acceptable Use Policy or Terms of Service.

So Why Do Unlimited Bandwidth Plans Exist?
Most websites only consume a very small amount of bandwidth and disk space. Web hosting companies that provide unlimited anything as a plan feature are banking on the fact that you won't use very much. Unlimited is a marketing trick to get your business. The web hosting market is very competitive. Although selling plans that pretend to be unlimited can seem dishonest, it does not mean that the hosting company will not provide good service. Check in the hosting company's Terms of Service: there will probably be a note about what "unlimited" really means.

When Are Unlimited Plans Ok?
If you have a small website and know that it will not consume too much space or bandwidth, then unlimited plans make your choices a bit easier to understand. Most plans that offer unlimited will have some restrictions such as no audio or video downloads. The reason audio or video downloads are typically not allowed in unlimited hosting plans is because these types of files consume significant bandwidth and disk space which exposes the host to the risk of having to add more hard drive space and bandwidth, which costs them more money. If you choose an unlimited plan and you know your needs won't be very intensive then you won't run into any problems.

When Are Unlimited Plans Not Ok?
If you intend to have a lot of visitors to your site, lots of downloads, including audio or video files, do not choose an unlimited plan hoping to get unrestricted bandwidth. You will find yourself with problems. Your web host is not going to run at a loss for long - they could shut down your website or even charge you extra (read the terms of service).

So What Is The Best Thing To Do?
The best course of action is to plan ahead. Remember, you can always buy more bandwidth or disk space if you need - often for just a few extra pounds. Only consider an unlimited hosting plan if you know your disk space and bandwidth requirements are very low. If, on the other hand, you have an ecommerce site or a site that you expect to grow in size and bandwidth in future, avoid any plans that offer unlimited bandwidth or disk space. Remember it is impossible for any provider to actually provide an unlimited amount of bandwidth or disk space.

1st Choice Web Host provides budget website hosting to clients all over the world. Based in London 1st Choice Web Host prides itself on feature rich, affordable hosting packages. - 1stchoicewebhost.co.uk

Category: Web Hosting Articles > More "Web Hosting" Articles

There are thousands of web hosting services available online, and some of them are more reliable than others. When you are looking at the number of options available, it is easy to become overwhelmed. It is important to look at potential problems with hosting companies prior to using them. This can save you a lot of time, money, and headaches.

You should avoid hosting services which have servers which are constantly down. A good hosting company should be able to monitor its servers and quickly fix problems. Some hosting services may be down as long as a few days, and these are companies you will want to avoid. It is also important to make sure all the features offered by the company work. If your email is down, this prevents you from being able to run your business. This is something you can't afford, and you will want to make sure you stay away from companies which do this.

Another thing which is important for you to look at is tech support. How long does it take the tech department to answer your phone calls or emails? A good company should answer within a few hours. Some hosting companies take many days to answer your questions, and the answers they give you may not solve the problem. Hosting companies like this should be avoided. You should also look for hosting services which communicate well with their customers. A lack of communication is one of the leading causes of business failure. You don't want to do business with companies that don't effectively communicate.

Sometimes when you cancel your account, the hosting company will continue billing you. This is a very frustrating situation, and you may have to file claims with your bank in order to get your money back. Most hosting companies take out automatic payments, and you will want to do research to make sure they stop billing customers once the service is cancelled. When you look online at hosting companies, always look at the price. If it is too good to be true, it probably is. The prices charged should be enough to pay for their service maintenance and other fees.

Any hosting services which advertise unlimited bandwidth should make you suspicious. If you use a lot of bandwidth, you may have your website taken down. Hosting websites which don't look professional should also raise red flags. Websites with lots of spelling errors or no information about the company are unlikely to provide quality service.

Michael Colucci is a technical writer for 299host.net - Complete web hosting services at only $2.99 per month.