How Big is Unlimited Hosting?

When we see the word unlimited in a web hosting ad we naturally think it means no limits. Web hosting companies rely heavily on this. While searching for a web hosting service you will find that unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth are popular selling tools. Hosting providers also offer unlimited domains.

Let's take a look at each of these advertised unlimited hosting services.

Unlimited Storage/Space:

Hosting companies need servers that have hard disk associated with each server. Think of the personal computer as a server, and your hard drive as the storage unit. How many hard drives you can connect is limited by the computers' (server) capacity for hard drives. Thus, each web hosting provider is in a sense limited by the amount of servers it has, the number of hard disk each server has, and each associated hard disks capacity. The more servers and associated hard disk a hosting company has the more storage space it can offer its customers.

Web servers can be stored at data centers. However, owning and managing a data center is costly. It has special requirements; it needs to be in a climate controlled environment, and resistant to natural disasters. Physical security is also very important.

Unlimited Bandwidth:

Web hosting companies understand that websites that have sound, video, flash content, Virtual Reality (VR) etc., demand bandwidth. However, bandwidth may be limited by up link capacity; up link capacity is important because it is the data flow per second. The amount of data a websites' visitors can access is based on the bandwidth.

Unlimited Domains:

Web hosting service plans now include unlimited domains. Customers get a single web hosting account, but can set up one or more than one website. This is very convenient for businesses with several websites because they can maintain several domains under a single account,. With one web hosting account for all of your websites you can control all of your websites using the same control panel. Managing a single website or several websites is becoming easier. Web hosting providers are constantly upgrading their features and control panels.

How big is unlimited web hosting? Very big. Although, unlimited sounds like infinity, what it may really mean is that the web hosting provider can offer services that “exceed” a customers actual needs.

For example, if a typical website requires 10MB of storage space/10GB of bandwidth/service for more than one website, and the web hosting provider can provide 300GB of storage space/3000GB bandwidth/for unlimited domains then in a way that can be interpreted as unlimited web hosting.

Also, if a web hosting company owns its own access line it probably can provide the unlimited service it offers. On the other hand, if it does not then it may not be able to live up to its promises.

Selling unlimited web hosting services is big business. The best way to understand what unlimited services you are truly getting with a plan is to read the Terms of Service, including the fine print and clauses.