Your View On 'Unlimited' Hosting?

[Sidular]

Previously, unlimited was a term used by website hosting providers to describe a service with no artificial limitations in place, and rather than to publicly display the actual specifications of the server itself, they hide the limitations deep within their terms of service and acceptable usage policy.

The secrecy of the actual limitations and the ability for small hosting providers to easily claim to offer unlimited services is the reason the 'unlimited' term has been ripped apart by web professionals throughout the years, as quite simply, there is no such thing as a hard drive capable of storing an infinite amount of data.

However, with the recent introduction and popularity of cloud hosting services, which allows hosting providers to easily increase the power and capabilities of their network, is the skepticism towards the 'unlimited' host still rightfully deserved?
Now that we're entering the age of the cloud, what is your stance on the whole 'unlimited' situation?
Do you believe that cloud-based unlimited hosting is the future of this industry?

 

[Sidular]

Huh, how do you edit the poll? I made a minor spelling mistake.

I intended to say "of" and not "if". Sorry about that.

 

[handsonhosting]

Looks like a moderator edited it for you

The unlimited hosting gets a bad rap, and rightly so. I'm one of those that rip it apart any chance I get, and yet at the same time, we offer unlimited bandwidth on our hosting accounts.

We had experimented with the words "not limited", but we saw an increase in confusion and a drop in rankings and traffic. The reality is, our bandwith is NOT limited, only the disk space is. Putting on the server that we have 1GB network cards and access to a data pipeline of 2TBs connection between centers etc. Unlimited is just much easier to say.

 

[cdd.hosting]

Unlimited nowadays became trendy word and customers even think that it is a sign of reliability because big known hosts use this words in their plans, so if we want to participate in competition we should try to develop our offers and provide more resources with plans to reach this unreachable point of unlimitation

 

[Sidular]

Looks like a moderator edited it for you

Nope, the mistake is still there.
No big deal, though. The poll serves its purpose.

Possibly, but only if the cloud network is truly capable of handling it. (ie. 500+TB if disk)

 

[EasyAsPie]

I believe unlimited hosting is OK as long as the fair usage policy doesn't restrict it too much. If a site gets suddenly popular it doesn't be taken down just because the host isn't capable of providing what the customer has paid for.

It's hard to compete against unlimited because you never know what the limits really are. That's also a problem for customers while choosing the best host unless the resources are really unlimited (which is very unlikely).

 

[Alex - A2 Hosting]

I believe unlimited hosting is OK as long as the fair usage policy doesn't restrict it too much. If a site gets suddenly popular it doesn't be taken down just because the host isn't capable of providing what the customer has paid for.

It's hard to compete against unlimited because you never know what the limits really are. That's also a problem for customers while choosing the best host unless the resources are really unlimited (which is very unlikely).

If all resources are really unlimited then thats bad management for an unlimited host. To offer unlimited space and bandwidth you would need to set other limitations in place (other resources) to ensure quality performance.

At the same time you may also get other resource limitations with non-unlimited hosting providers depending on where you shop.

 

[Artashes]

Nope, the mistake is still there.
No big deal, though. The poll serves its purpose.

I honestly do not see where the mistake is... :dknow:

 

[easyhostmedia]

I honestly do not see where the mistake is... :dknow:

Art, just found it

the second poll question

Possibly, but only if the cloud network is truly capable of handling it. (ie. 500+TB if disk)

should be

Possibly, but only if the cloud network is truly capable of handling it. (ie. 500+TB of disk)

 

[Athens]

Some people play fast and loose with the term, that's my main problem with it. "Unlimited" anything is like offering something for "free". There's no such animal.

 

[bunnykins]

My hope is unlimited hosting will go away as it is a scam.

 

[Alex - A2 Hosting]

Some people play fast and loose with the term, that's my main problem with it. "Unlimited" anything is like offering something for "free". There's no such animal.

I don't see the relation to offering something free and unlimited hosting.

My hope is unlimited hosting will go away as it is a scam.

Nope not a scam - if you go to a local pizza shop and choose one of their "all-you-can-eat" packages is that a scam also? Thats unlimited potential food at one fixed price.

 

[Posilan]

if you go to a local pizza shop and choose one of their "all-you-can-eat" packages is that a scam also?

It would be if the shop only cooked one pizza per hour, or threw you out after eating your third pizza for breathing too much air whilst eating it or some other reason hidden deep in the T&C's...

Steve

 

[easyhostmedia]

I don't see the relation to offering something free and unlimited hosting.



Nope not a scam - if you go to a local pizza shop and choose one of their "all-you-can-eat" packages is that a scam also? Thats unlimited potential food at one fixed price.

even "all-you-can-eat" places will have some sort of restrictions/limits set, otherwise you could go in at 9am and stay in their until they close at midnight eating whatever you want throughout the day. If everyone did that they would soon be out of business

 

[bunnykins]

Nope not a scam - if you go to a local pizza shop and choose one of their "all-you-can-eat" packages is that a scam also? Thats unlimited potential food at one fixed price.

All you can eat is not unlimited though. If you changed unlimited to unmetered then the comparison works. To take this comparison one step farther. Most unlimited if not all have another limit an inode limit. If all you could eat had a calorie limit, then the comparison would work. No all you can eat places that I have been to limit the amount of calories.

Why don't you just say the space and bandwidth is not metered or say no limit as then it would be more legit. Because you can never have unlimited, even with quantum computers. There is a limit you just do not have a hard limit.

 

[Collabora]

Once again the self-proclaimed experts reveal a sense of non-expertise (to put it politely)

Its amazing how many hosts interpret "unlimited" as "infinite." Their mistake is assuming "unlimited" refers to hardware -- a totally ignorant assumption.

Ignorant because any decent server admin knows that the hosting resources in a shared hosting plan are limited by quotas not hardware. Thus "unlimited" refers to the quota
.

The same faulty logic will claim that there is no such thing as unlimited talk in a cell phone plan because people have to sleep and eat and can't talk sometimes, or there are only 24 hours in a day and there is not such thing as an infinitely long day to do the unlimited talking. Or there is no such thing as unlimited mileage when renting a car since the size of the gas tank is finite.

It is the limit imposed by the provider that is unlimited, not the size of the hardware. It is the mere absence of the artificial quota that makes the hosting resource unlimited.

The real scam is hosts going around with their chests puffed out and claiming host that provide unlimited hosting plans are scammers. They are either liars or ignoramuses -- neither quality qualifies them to manage a server

 

[Sidular]

The real scam is hosts going around with their chests puffed out and claiming host that provide unlimited hosting plans are scammers. They are either liars or ignoramuses -- neither quality qualifies them to manage a server

That's the real problem here. Most 'professionals' rightfully assume that nearly all 'unlimited' providers are falsely advertising their capabilities, or that these providers are being run by kids.

I personally have been screwed over by a couple of the 'unlimited' hosting providers, including (and most specifically) 1and1, who actually threatened to take me to court if I didn't pay them the remaining account balance on a monthly non-contract plan for which I no longer had access to. They locked me out of the account because I used 5 GB of disk space, and they claimed I was disrupting the normal functionality of their network, which is of course against their terms of use.

They kept charging my credit card each month for a service that they themselves cancelled, and they failed to respond to any of my billing complaints. I was forced to cancel my card. They then threatened to take me to court in addition to sending whatever balance I owed to a collection agency.

I then immediately began to collect as many emails and documents as possible proving my innocence, as well as their abuse and ignorance.
These documents (not all, but some) were then sent to 1and1 after I practically threatened to counter-sue.
In the end, they dropped the case, and everything worked out fine.

The 1and1 debacle was one of the key motivators to start up my own hosting business. I vowed to never operate at the same level of service as 1and1, and to this day, have been able to keep with my promises.

Moral to the story? Although some unlimited providers are absolute nightmares to deal with, others are actually very understanding, and won't attempt to take legal action against you if you use more than 5 GB of disk space.

So, trust me. I understand the hate towards the 'unlimited' term, as I've experienced it first hand.
However, this hate is being used too generally, and shouldn't be instantly applied to every hosting provider out there.
Most? Sure, as the stereotypes regarding the term likely apply to 90% of every unlimited provider out there. However, it's that 10% that we're effectively alienating with this hate. To claim that visible resources will always be better than whatever the so-called unlimited host is providing is a form of biased elitism.
You'd be surprised by what the unlimited host is capable of, especially now that technology is so openly available, and cloud networks are fairly easy to create and maintain. The common misconception that unlimited means infinite is a false claim being spread by other hosting providers and web professionals. Nothing is ever truly infinite, not even space itself. (everything must have an end, and an end does not equal infinity)


(in regards to space, we do not currently know what limitations space itself enforces upon us, if any at all. However, space shouldn't be regarded as being truly infinite, as if space is expanding, as current theories suggest, it implies that space itself is confided in some way or form. Simply put, you cannot expand upon what is already infinite, as expansion beyond infinity is a contradiction of terms)

 

[Collabora]

^^^Your post is typical of he anti-unlimited crowd: Ascribing actions by unlimited hosts to unlimited plans when in reality the actions would be no different if said host is a limited host.

Let's see......

I personally have been screwed over by a couple of the 'unlimited' hosting providers, including (and most specifically) 1and1, who actually threatened to take me to court if I didn't pay them the remaining account balance on a monthly non-contract plan for which I no longer had access to.

What does this have to do with offering unlimited hosting plan? Are you trying to convince the unwary that limited hosts don't have billing issues? If 1and1 limited you disk space quota to 10GB would the billing problem have vanished?

They locked me out of the account because I used 5 GB of disk space, and they claimed I was disrupting the normal functionality of their network, which is of course against their terms of use.

I doubt they would have locked you out if you were using 5gb and were not disrupting the network. And they probably would have locked you out if you were using 5gb on a 6gb plan and disrupting the network.

They kept charging my credit card each month for a service that they themselves cancelled, and they failed to respond to any of my billing complaints. I was forced to cancel my card. They then threatened to take me to court in addition to sending whatever balance I owed to a collection agency.

Again, what does this have to do with offering unlimited hosting? A hosts billing policy is a completely separate realm than the quota policy

<snipped more horror stories that has nothing to do with unlimited hosting plans>

Moral to the story? Although some unlimited providers are absolute nightmares to deal with, others are actually very understanding, and won't attempt to take legal action against you if you use more than 5 GB of disk space.

So, trust me. I understand the hate towards the 'unlimited' term, as I've experienced it first hand.

This is just more hypocrisy that laces your post. Why should your issues be excused if the crimes were perpetrated by a limited host, but if host offers unlimited hosting plan it becomes the crime of the century?

Nothing is ever truly infinite, not even space itself. (everything must have an end, and an end does not equal infinity)


(in regards to space, we do not currently know what limitations space itself enforces upon us, if any at all. However, space shouldn't be regarded as being truly infinite, as if space is expanding, as current theories suggest, it implies that space itself is confided in some way or form. Simply put, you cannot expand upon what is already infinite, as expansion beyond infinity is a contradiction of terms)

After this existential nonsense its apparent you did not read my post nor know the different between disk quota and disk size

 

[Sidular]

^^^Your post is typical of he anti-unlimited crowd: Ascribing actions by unlimited hosts to unlimited plans when in reality the actions would be no different if said host is a limited host.

I was agreeing with you, and am in no way against hosting providers offering unlimited disk space or bandwidth.

The 1and1 reference was simply in regards to how some unlimited providers limit your services if you use too much of their available resources.

They disabled my account because I was using too much of the allowed space provided, and assumed I was engaging in some form of illegal activities that went against their terms of service. This wasn't intended to be a gripe against the unlimited provider, but more of a "I've been there" type of example, yet still support the unlimited platform.
If I recall, 1and1 informed me that I was using 3GB more than most of their unlimited accounts were generally allowed, so the cancellation occurred strictly because of the size of the website, and not due to their official response on the matter.

I'm not sure why you read my earlier response as being negative towards the unlimited host, especially since I myself provide unlimited hosting services with my own hosting platform.

 

[Collabora]

I was agreeing with you, and am in no way against hosting providers offering unlimited disk space or bandwidth.

I'm not sure why you read my earlier response as being negative towards the unlimited host, especially since I myself provide unlimited hosting services with my own hosting platform.

That's what I thought before you posted but then thought I was wrong after reading it.

You lead of with

Most 'professionals' rightfully assume that nearly all 'unlimited' providers are falsely advertising their capabilities

And then when describing your problems it was important for you to mention that the host in question was an unlimited host.

So I did find your post typical of anti-unlimited posts -- as it stands. Sorry for the misunderstanding