How does unlimited bandwidth and space work?

Article Author: Guest Contributor

Unlimited bandwidth and space works differently for every provider. You may assume that you have the capabilities to have as many visitors to your website that all download whatever they want from it, but that is not really the case. This is what we call puffery in the business world. They are overselling their product. Ask yourself this, have you ever seen an unlimited hard drive? No? That is because there aren't any out there. We are here to explain what unlimited bandwidth and space really means in the hosting world, so there are no more misunderstandings.

Bandwidth is how much you are allotted for data transfers with your hosting package. For example, if your website is going to be 75 KB per page and someone visits that one particular page, they will end up downloading exactly that amount in bandwidth to their computer. Multiply that by about a hundred or even a thousand and you will find that you are going to definitely going to need a reliable and extensive bandwidth plan. It really depends on how large your website is and how popular it is. If you get people using your website all day and all night on a popular website such as a message board or a music site, you will need to get the biggest bandwidth option out there.

Unlimited really has to do with numbers and marketing. It is generally based on what we call "average values". There is a general usage for the average website when it comes to the gigabytes and disk space that it uses. Once it has been figured out, that is when the people that run the business come up with a marketing plan. Most clients will merely take them at their word, because they really do not need as much bandwidth and space that they are offering.

This typically does not phase the user unless there is a problem with too many people taking up the space necessary. There are caps to this, you simply need to know who to work with when it comes down to it. When there are too many people using the server, the server will inevitably overload and crash which really kills the reliability and stability of the product that you are paying for.

Avoid the hosting sites that claim that they have unlimited bandwidth or hosting, because they are merely marketing strategies. You will be able to find more honest and affordable hosting options if you do the proper research.