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The internet is full of offers, but unfortunately, manypopular hosts are using unscrupulous advertising to mislead theircustomers and set them up for problems. If you are looking for a hostfor your web site, read this article to learn about some of the biggesthosting myths and how to avoid common mistakes.
Myth 1: Unlimited bandwidth will solve everything
Bandwidth is the amount of information sent out to people on theinternet; the more traffic your web site gets, the more bandwidth ituses. Bandwidth costs money, so how much you pay for hosting depends onhow much traffic you need to handle.
Unlimited bandwidth would be great if it were possible--but it's not.Your web page files are stored on a special computer called a server,which sends information out over the internet. Like all computers, theserver has limits; it can only handle a certain amount of work. Give ittoo much traffic to handle, and it will slow down and becomeunreliable.
Obviously, no number of servers would ever be enough to give even onecustomer truly unlimited bandwidth. All right, you might ask, but canit still be close to "unlimited" in a practical sense? (Some web hostshave taken up the term "unmetered" which has more of this connotation.)
Unfortunately, it's still fiction. Your actual maximum bandwidth mightbe quite low indeed. You'll be sharing your server with many otheraccounts. If your account starts using too many resources, it's verylikely that you'll be suspended or forced to upgrade to a much moreexpensive plan. So much for "unlimited" hosting!
Since offering unlimited bandwidth hosting is such a blatantmisrepresentation, it's not a good idea to use such hosts, regardlessof how much traffic or disk space your site uses. If their businessmodel depends on deception, can you trust them with your web pages?Even if your own site is small, other customers on your server may tryto take advantage of the supposedly unlimited bandwidth and causeproblems.
(If you're still hoping to find a real unlimited bandwidth deal, I havea car to sell you that gets unlimited mileage from a tank of gas.)
Myth 2: The $5 terabyte plan is the best deal
There is a current trend of offering hundreds of GB (gigabytes) or evenone or more TB (terabytes, each of which is more than a thousand GB)for a very low price. Would it surprise you to know that most of theseultra-high-bandwidth budget plans are simply made up out of thin air?That's right. There is no way for these hosts to provide what theyoffer, and they have no intention of doing so.
In fact, this is just another version of the unlimited bandwidth scam.Unfortunately, it's on the rise at the moment, and many gullible peoplewill be taken in by this technique, which is called overselling. (Thecurrent fad represents extreme overselling.)
Remember our web server (that special computer) and its limitedresources? To make a long story short, the whole server may not be ableto handle as much bandwidth as the host is offering to each of the manycustomers with accounts on it! The ending is the same: if you use toomuch, your site will be suspended and you'll have to make a big upgradeor leave.
You might be wondering how hosts get away with offering all thisbandwidth and not really providing it. They cover themselves with somesmall print in the terms of service that allow them to suspend you forusing too many server resources. In other words, they can offer as muchbandwidth as they want, because you'll use too many resources longbefore that. It's an unfair game, with all the rules in their favor.
Myth 3: Always prepay annually to save
Many hosts offer discounts if you prepay for one or more years. This istruly a way to save, but it comes with risks. In fact, it could end upbeing a lot more expensive.
If you're paying month-to-month and something goes wrong, you can findanother plan easily. If you've prepaid a year or two and you haveproblems after the trial period is over, you're stuck; you won't beable to leave without losing some money.
The risk might be acceptable if not for the nature of web hosting,where things can easily go wrong. Your host might turn out to beunreliable, with downtime and poor support. Your account might besuspended for reasons you do not anticipate, such as exceeding serverresources and violating the fine print mentioned above, or even theactions of someone else who manages to break into your account.
Prepaying is very risky when signing up with a new host. It's a betteroption to use with a host you already know and trust. Then again, evengood hosts can change over time or run into problems beyond theircontrol.
Paying yearly is good for the host, though, especially for those whooversell and underprice their plans, so you will be enticed to payannually. If you want to play it safe and a host doesn't have a monthlyor quarterly plan, consider looking elsewhere.
Finding a web host
These trends may be unsettling, but don't be discouraged! There aredecent hosts out there, following realistic business plans and offeringan honest service to their clients. Just don't expect to find themamong the hosts that are advertising the impossible offers.
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