Recently "unlimited" packages that offer unlimited amounts of disk space and bandwidth have become increasingly common.  Especially by "low end" hosting sellers and those on bargain auction websites. The problem is unlimited packages are not possible, instead just an advertising trick.

If someone is offering unlimited packages, you know right away that they are not to be dealt with.

Bandwidth: This is the amount of data that is transferred through your account. Let's do some calculations. Imagine you have a web page that is 90kb. If someone opens that web page he will generate a total of 90kb of data transfer. Now let's say 100 visitors open your webpage. This makes 9000kb. Let's say that's for one day. On a monthly basis this makes 9000kb * 31 days = 279000kb (about 272 MegaBytes). This is how everyone can determine how much bandwidth is required for their websites. These are the factors you should use to determine what package you need to sign up for - size of your website and popularity. A small website that has just html pages with a few pictures will probably fit in a small package with 500mb of disk space and 1GB of monthly bandwidth. However, if you have a big website that has audio and video files and gets thousands of hits every day - you will have to pick a large package with at least 200GB of monthly bandwidth. But don't go for the "unlimited" packages... here is why:

Many hosting companies advertise unlimited plans. I am not sure whether anyone ever tried to test the "unlimited" capabilities of such a company, but if you ever come across such an offer - don't waste your time or money. Even in real life there is no such thing as unlimited. Everything has a limit. Energy is limited, water and oil supplies are limited even the Sun will sooner or later exhaust. Let's get bandwidth for example. It's like a water pipe. Depending on the diameter, only a limited amount of water can flow for a given time period. You can't push the whole ocean through a 5 inch pipe for one month. What to say about the unlimited disk space offers - have you ever seen a hard disk drive with unlimited capacity?

That is all a marketing trick by web hosting companies called "overselling". In other words they are selling something they don't have. I guess no one wants to buy something that doesn't exist. Think about it. It's just not possible.

Usually the truth about the "unlimited" keyword is hidden somewhere deep in the terms and conditions. Or those overselling companies simply hope that no one will try to upload an enormous amount of files to their web space.

If you sign up for such a package and try to use your unlimited bandwidth or disk space your account will probably get suspended for one of the following reasons:

- unlimited is actually unlimited unless under 1GB of disk space and 10GB of monthly transfer

- you are not allowed to upload files larger than 1MB

- your website runs very slow until it is completely unreachable, since everyone on the server is trying to use unlimited bandwidth, but the server has only a 100mbit port.

- your account will most likely get terminated for violating any part of the terms and conditions which says that any account can be terminated at any time for any reason

The hosting companies use "unlimited" as an advertising trick to attract customers. Those packages are usually very cheap, but like in real life, cheaper is never better. Using an "unlimited" plan will not last forever and soon or later you will have to switch to a regular hosting company where you get exactly what you pay for.

If you're having a small website that does not consume lots of resources, an unlimited plan will be great for you since you will not have to worry whether your usage will go over the limit and your website will be suspended until you purchase more bandwidth for example. But what's the point of purchasing something you don't expect to use? However, if you're having a serious website and you decide to host it on an "unlimited" package - that's asking for trouble. You should better get a real package where you can be sure you'll get exactly what you're paying for. The best thing to do is plan ahead and be very careful with choosing a web host. Remember it is just not possible for any provider to actually provide an unlimited amount of bandwidth or disk space.