Unmetered Hosting or Hosting Unlimited Bandwidth: Truth or Urban Legend?

Unlimited hosting means that a hosting company will host your account and provide you with unlimited bandwidth (sometimes labeled transfer) and unlimited space. This is what people want when they sign up for a hosting account. Nobody likes limits and unlimited hosting is what everybody wants.

There are many reputable hosts that offer unlimited packages either as a marketing method to get their business noticed or promote it over another business.

However, keep in mind that in real world there are practical limits on all resources, including bandwidth.

So, when a hosting company offers unlimited bandwidth, what it really means is that they do not expect you to use more than a certain amount. The claim of "unmetered bandwidth" or "unlimited hosting" is a common marketing hook to get more people sign up for hosting accounts.

Although I have not experienced this so far (I use BlueHost and Hostgator), I have heard it from others that once you reach a certain limit of bandwidth usage, you will most likely hear from your hosting company asking you to do something about your consumption.

Many hosts that offer unlimited or unmetered packages have policies that state that if you use more than a certain percentage of the servers resources, you can be charged extra, you can be shut down, or any other consequences in relationship to resource usage. Having your site shut down unexpectedly can hurt your reputation.

Some features that are allowed to be unlimited since they are run server-side, including mailing lists, e-mail accounts, ftp accounts, sub-domains, and databases. In some cases databases are limited as they can put too much demand on the server and cause decrease in stability and performance.

Even if you do not intend using lots of bandwidth and space, you should research your hosting company before signing up with them and ask them questions. If the host is really interested in you they will provide answers to your questions and concerns within 24 hours.

When choosing a host, ask around for opinions and take advantage of trial memberships. Reputable companies usually provide money back guarantees.

You may want to ask questions about what support they offer, what is the typical response time, about server stability, and their policies.

Once you have your hosting account, it's time to build some sites!

Read this Quick-Start Guide To Building A WordPress Website: How to Build a Website in a Weekend or Less.