The way unlimited bandwidth hosting has flooded the market; you’d think it’s the best thing that ever happened since sliced bread. And that’s exactly what the web hosting service companies want you to think. But does this marketing hype, which you’ve undoubtedly been exposed to, have any grain of truth in it?
Or is it really just that – a hype; an alluring marketing strategy meant to entice customers? It’s high time that you know some basic hard facts behind this hot issue; and this article aims to clear the controversies surrounding unlimited bandwidth web hosting, once and for all.
The Twofold Meaning of Bandwidth
If we want to be precise about terminologies here, bandwidth is defined as the measurement of data transfer rates, otherwise known as data transmission rate; or more accurately, the speed of data transmission/transfer. In computer networking or computer science, it is measured in terms of bits/second.
However, the terms “digital bandwidth”, network bandwidth” or simply “bandwidth” has been rampantly misused in the web hosting world. When hosting companies refer to bandwidth in their hosting packages; they actually mean “data transfer” and not “data transfer rate”.
Thus, the second meaning of “bandwidth” came about: the amount of data allowed to be transferred within a certain time period – or more specifically, the maximum amount of data that can be transferred each month from the web space in a hosting account. This second meaning does not refer to the speed at which the data is or can be transmitted.
Web Hosting Service as a Commodity
The basic elements of any web hosting plan are disk space, which is the space allotted to you on the web server to store your website; and bandwidth, which is the amount you have available to transfer web pages from the web server to the browsers of visitors to your website.
The amount of bandwidth that you require depends on two factors: the size of your site; and the popularity of your site, which translates to the number of users who view your web page. In addition, the type of downloads that visitors perform also has to be considered.
Why “Unlimited” Is Not Possible
The network lines that carry data around the web which may be an optic fiber line, cable line or a simple copper wire have a finite capacity and there is a limit to the amount of data that can be transferred by these lines at any given time. Moreover, the hard drive of a web server has, likewise, a limited amount of space determined by its actual physical size.
Therefore, it’s categorically impossible to have “unlimited” something in an environment with limited resources. “Extreme amounts of bandwidth” yes, but not “unlimited bandwidth”. So now you ask, why do all these web hosting company’s offer unlimited bandwidth then? And more importantly, how in the world do they get away with it?
Check back next week for Part II and the web hosting side of the story.
