So, here you are- after a detailed research on server hosting, it’s finally time to make a decision. As you scroll through the Internet, looking for more comparable options, you think you finally found the best plan you could ever land on. The promotion reads:
Unlimited Hosting Monthly Plan. Only RM9.90 Per Month!
Your instinct kicks in and says, This is it!
But, let’s hold that thought. It does sound like a deal, or does it?
Let’s put on our thinking hats.
With an unlimited bandwidth and disk space free to use, there’s no need either to worry about neither its upload/download speed nor RAM efficiency. Such massive scalability- forget the upgrades because it’s already a beast!
All of these with just RM9.90 a month?!
It’s starting to sound a little impossible.
Unlimited Hosting Or Unlimited Baits?
An increasing demand for hosting services has introduced more competitors into this servicing business.
And let’s keep it real- business will always be profit-oriented, while marketing comes always together.
Thriving companies continuously top each other, by offering bigger disk space. Starting from megabytes, to gigabytes, and now terabytes. But they soon realize, that fulfilling the customer’s desire for more, proves to be an endless battle.
Wait. What if, they could offer instead, a plan with unlimited bandwidth and disk space? And there goes the beginning of a new market, or rather a marketing gimmick.
Or, more like a bait.
Unlimited, Or Limited By Terms?
Let me explain why this is a bait. More often than not, the term unlimited differs slightly from your version of dictionary. Most quickly assume, that the plan will provide an endless bandwidth and memory space to your free will.
In my mind, it sounded like this:
Wahsehhhh. I can use as many as I want. This time I pick up gold liao lahhhh. Woohoo!
Me Being A Bloody Idiot
That sounds amazing alright, but all those are only in your mind. In fact, none of the above is true and let me explain why.
To start with, offering unlimited disk space is total BS. There is always a limit to space that you get. Be it 100MB, 100GB or 100TB.
Like a bottle, that contains a fixed volume and a cap- the maximum amount of water that you get, would be the maximum volume the bottle can contain.
It is impossible to get more than what you have, even with technology of this age. It would cost an arm and a leg, to presently invest in a disk space of better grade. And you were getting excited over an unlimited plan?
Hosting companies simply cannot pull through, by only selling under priced deals.
A simple calculation would help explain the impossible clearer.
Say, for example, there is 1000 recurring customers subscribed to Company X’s unlimited hosting deal. Each month, the company receives RM9,900 in profit. Extract a monthly maintenance fee, data center server rental fee, salary for the employed customer support team, office space rental, and other miscellaneous fees. What is left of the original profit is clearly insufficient to fund the company itself, let alone improving its facilities to provide better services for its existing and future customers. Cheap and unlimited hosting @RM9.90 is simply not a working formula.
So, what’s the catch? Terms of Services.
The key lies in understanding the exact meaning of unlimited as promised by the company. Most would state an agreed terms in a contract, but make sure you fully understand its carefully planned and written agreement. If you find any important terms understated or unclarified, pick up your phone and make a direct inquiry. An email would do the trick just as easy. A transparent host after all, is one that you can entrust your most valuable data to.
Limited Resources, Unlimited Troubles
If unlimited hosting is a truth, many customers must have been very happy. However oddly, a quick search on the Internet defies this immediately. By now, the cause should come clearly.
Business in hosting is rather tricky. To find the perfect fit, is to find a professional support team. You know, one that answers your questions 24/7, like, Why is my website down? Why is the upload and download speed not working as guaranteed? Why can’t I access my SQL database? Why can’t I log onto my account? Why am I blacklisted?
Hey, just raising some critical questions, as we learn from different cases in the history.
It turns out many clients are unhappy, about their different experiences with unlimited hosting. Some of those are just very unlucky, who got kicked and locked out of their own territory. Some learned their lessons in a harder way, when their websites and taken down and removed without issuance of warning, forcefully by authority. Others probably found their way out already, when they discovered that the media uploads are too slow, and just can’t bother themselves with more troubles any longer!
So what have we learned here? The importance of skimming through Terms of Services.
Unlimited Plan Attracts Unlimited Loud Neighbors
A very attractive deal like this, is guaranteed to welcome a whole bunch of customers, just like you and I.
Imagine living in a survival camp, with 999 other rescued victims. Resources like food and water are distributed equally. That’s great because everyone gets a fair share. Then comes this big bully, who robs the weak, the women, the children, you and eventually everyone else off their needs. Now, that’s not very pleasing, is it?
Servers that house too many, are prone to face trouble like this- loud neighbors that take advantage of cheap hosting plans. Slow loading time, inconsistent uptime, and frequent server crashes are just few of those difficulties that will surface. More are to come, and be prepared to get your patience tested.
In fact, you don’t need unlimited hosting.
You just need enough and can spend RM1.84 every day.