Free Hosting and Unlimited Web Space – a Reality? Or A Marketing Trick To Rope You In To More Problems Than You Expected
Free hosting and unlimited web space is a cool concept just like english is a cool language, but it can also be very complicated. With slang and other expressions, words can take on completely opposite meanings. Sometimes it’s not the exact opposite definition but instead, means something completely different. In the world of web hosting, there are actually two words that can mean different things depending on the context of the ad.
If you see an ad for free hosting and unlimited web space, you automatically, and rightfully so, think that the service being offered will not cost you anything. After all, that is the definition of free, right? You would also expect to have no restrictions on what you can do with the site because even though it’s free, that doesn’t mean you should have limitations put on your activities. If the website service really came for free, these would be the fair expectations. Unfortunately, this is just not possible in the world of web hosting, or in any other industry for that matter. You just can’t get everything you need for free. The universe wasn’t set up to work that way.
With a free host, you obviously don’t have to pay for a monthly hosting fee, and can get started right away with your site, but you will have restrictions as far as space and bandwidth are concerned. You won’t be able to post thousands of pictures without paying a penny. Most free sites even make you have advertising, which is of no benefit to you, right on your site, all the time. Not very professional if you plan to create a trustworthy online image. Free hosts place a lot of conditions on their hosting services that you must follow.
You may get 20 MB of space, but have to pay for additional space and services. You shouldn’t really be surprised to hear this. It makes sense.
In the literal sense of the term, you can’t really find free web hosting if that is what you’re expecting – getting all the same benefits of a paid service for nothing.
So what about unlimited? How does this term fit into the real world? Do you really get unlimited bandwidth? If so, this must be a great deal!
Literally, you would expect an unlimited host to provide you with unlimited space and bandwidth so you can pay your fee and get all you want and more. Pretty sweet, right? Well, not exactly. It doesn’t quite work the way you would expect. Again, can you believe that a company out there would be able to offer you everything you need and more for a small monthly fee – every customer would be sucking up so many resources that the business would fast become unfeasible.
When bandwidth refers to page views and data transfer, unlimited hosting is nonexistent. First of all, every hosting machine has limits. We have not yet fully mastered the laws of quantum mechanics to be able to create truly unlimited bandwidth for computer users. After a certain amount of space is used up, it’s gone.
Unlimited is meant to attract you to a company. Unlimited really refers to the idea that you can use as much as you want because all the people signed up for the service are probably not going to use the capacity they technically have allotted to them. Sometimes these companies are taking a chance and could one day overflow with users, causing your site to run too slow. This is something you have to consider when selecting a web host. Free hosting and unlimited web space don’t really exist, which is why it’s better to go with an established company like SiteSell for your web hosting needs.
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