Within the web hosting community and more specifically within the dedicated server/colocation industries, the idea of unlimited bandwidth web hosting is highly sought after. This being stated, the idea of unlimited bandwidth hosting is just that – an idea spawned by dedicated server solution marketing minds.
The Truth about Dedicated Hosting Unlimited Bandwidth
The basic idea behind HostGator unlimited bandwidth web hosting and likewise competition is simple: offer “unlimited bandwidth” hosting for companies who need unlimited disk space and bandwidth. As you already know, the backbone of any web hosting solution is in the specifications they offer: RAM, Disk Space, Bandwidth and CPU Cores – all of which cost money. Unlimited bandwidth works by offering consumers with a plan cited as unlimited however those plans have exceptions.
A common exception to unlimited bandwidth hosting is not allowing for video, music and data heavy photo files. The reason behind this is video and the like use a lot of bandwidth and disk space to run properly. If unlimited plans were to allow for it, clients would either reach near their bandwidth allotment or fly over it. This means the provider would have to pay more for said bandwidth, thus losing money.
So, if unlimited bandwidth web hosting isn’t really unlimited bandwidth web hosting or unlimited disk space dedicated server hosting, why would anyone purchase it? The answer is small websites.
Small Websites and Unlimited Bandwidth Web Hosting
Right off the bat, if you operate a decent sized website or a small to medium sized ecommerce platform, unlimited bandwidth plans are probably not an option for you. Because you use too much bandwidth and disk space on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis, dedicated server unlimited bandwidth plans simply won’t work for you. However, if you operate a small website (a simple blog), unlimited bandwidth might be a good choice for you.
It should be noted: As you are probably guessing right now, how do you determine how much bandwidth your website actually needs?
Determining Your Bandwidth Needs
The simple way of determining your bandwidth needs is to monitor how much bandwidth your website uses on a monthly basis. However, if you are in a time rush an easy way to determine how much bandwidth your small website uses on a monthly basis is to utilize a free bandwidth calculation tool. You can find them by searching for “bandwidth calculator” via Google. Once you determine how much bandwidth your website uses on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, a smart idea is to double that calculation to account for any possible overages. Just like a fixed data plan on a smartphone, an overage means your provider hits you with a fee to pay for the extra usage. Needless to say, you don’t want to get hit with overage charges.
Pay For a Bit More
While unlimited bandwidth is a good thing to shoot for if your website meets the requirements, overall the safer bet is paying for a bit more bandwidth and disk space than you really need. As bandwidth and disk space aren’t bank breakers – most providers supply both compute resources for a few bucks – springing for a web hosting solution with a bit more of both won’t hurt your bottom dollar.