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The Truth Shall Set You Free...
Many people ask us questions about the offers they see about "unlimited" resources by other web hosting companies. So I went out and did some research on what these companies were really offering and the following is an explanation of what I found. Mainly it is generalizations and not representative of all the web hosting companies out there. It would be impossible for us to find every hosting company and analyze every "free" or "unlimited" offer out there, but the following information is what I generally found for the sites I visited.
The Fable of "Unlimited" band width (Traffic)
Just like disk space, unlimited band width, or traffic, is also a physical impossibility. Not only is it limited by the bandwidth of the network where the servers are residing, but it is also limited by the server itself. A server has a network card that can only process so much data at one time. Yes also like the disk space there are configurations that will allow fantastic amounts of bandwidth, and more than likely your hosting company is taking full advantage of them, but they are still physically limited.
But say you did use all of that bandwidth? What do you think happens on the server? Well you start using up all the system resources and if you do that, your "unlimited" traffic suddenly becomes limited because somewhere in the fine print there is usually a statement that if you use more than 20% of system resources, you no longer qualify for the unlimited band width.
So in reality you are limited to unlimited band width until you use up the limit of 20% of system resources. Isn't bandwidth a system resource you ask? Why yes it is.
ADWH will try to accommodate all the band width you need, but 99% of you will never use the band width that comes with your hosting package. Again, if you find you are in need of more band width, send us a note. We will be happy to work with you on it.
Please read the fine print when shopping for a web hosting provider and test out how easy it is to contact someone for technical support before you buy.
The bottom line is that the word "unlimited" in web hosting is a fable and that is not what makes a great hosting company. At ADWH we believe in our motto:
World class technology with old time service, just like it should be.
Giving money and power to government is like
giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke
