Unlimited Bandwidth

The Myth and The Facts

The Unlimited Bandwidth Myth

The above question is of course totally ridiculous. Any person with even a minimum level of knowledge about the Internet could only laugh at such an idea! Yet we run across people often that ask us if we provide unlimited bandwidth. The answer is always, sorry no can do.

What Is Bandwidth?

The term “bandwidth” is used to describe the maximum rate of data that can be transmitted in a device such as a server. It includes outgoing traffic (when people view your website is one example) and incoming traffic (such as uploading data to a server). It is measured in kilobits(Kbit), megabits(Mbit), gigabits(Gbit), or terabits(Tbit) per second. Typically, bandwidth is expressed as a bitrate and measured in bits per second (bps).

A server, VPS, VM or other device that serves data is limited in monthly transfer of data by its port speed. Our shared hosting servers at Full Value Host are capable of 10 Gb/s port speed which is powerful, but the server is limited to that amount of data per month at maximum performance. It is not unlimited bandwidth! There is simply no such thing as unlimited bandwidth and we can't make that promise. We know it feels good to hear those 2 words, unlimited bandwidth, but it's nothing more than gimmick or loss leader to attract your business. As a small business you should be much more concerned about performance and reliability.

What Is Unmetered Bandwidth?

Unmetered bandwidth simply means that we don't punish you by charging you for bandwidth spikes that go beyond your bandwidth limit. This is really the honest approach to unlimited bandwidth, but of course, it's not the same. From time to time many websites will experience bandwidth spikes when a free download is offered, a popular blog post and other events that result in high bandwidth usage. That's why at Full Value Host our Virtualization using VMware and CloudLinux powered VMs (Virtual Machines) allow for bandwidth peaks without crashing other sites in the shared hosting environment.

When a site becomes so busy (most site owners smile when that happens) that bandwidth usage remains very high for long periods of time is the point where the site owner can upgrade to an account with more CPU, RAM and bandwidth allowance.

The short video below from Our Church Hosting talks about bandwidth and how much you really need.