How To Evaluate Unmetered Hosting Plans
Unmetered hosting allows websites and their developers access to unlimited amounts of bandwidth from their hosting providers. Rather than turning a website off or increasing the billing for web sites that exceed a certain preset bandwidth amount, unmetered hosting providers promise to allow unrestrained access to their data pipe.
As bandwidth and high speed data pipe prices continue to fall, these types of hosting plans are becoming more and more prevalent with the top hosting providers in the industry.
Benefits of Unmetered Hosting Plans
Unmetered hosting plans are ideal for websites that experience a large volume of traffic or provide end users access to large files for download. If your website will be serving multimedia files such as music, video or high resolution images, an unmetered hosting plan is something you should give serious consideration.
Without utilizing an unlimited hosting plan, you can experience sudden downtime if your hosting provider detects your website exceeding its preset limits. In addition, exceeding your preset bandwidth can trigger large fees from your provider and can cost you hundreds of dollars a month. Using an unmetered hosting plan can cost as little as five dollars a month and save you from unpleasant billing surprises.
Nothing is worse for a website owner than expecting to be billed seven dollars for a month of service and opening your statement to find out you were fined hundreds of dollars for exceeding your bandwidth. But the worst situation is if you have an income producing website that is turned off by your hosting provider because of bandwidth usage. The downtime can cost you thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
What Are The Unmetered Hosting Options Available?
As bandwidth prices fall for hosting companies, the unmetered hosting options for consumers are growing. Currently most of the larger hosting providers have plans providing unmetered hosting. BUT BE CAREFUL!
Many of the unmetered hosting providers that claim to offer hosting plans without bandwidth limits actually do place restrictions on your usage. Make sure you read the fine print. If a webhosting plan claims to have unmetered hosting options but limits the types of files or bandwidth uses, find another provider.
Where Can I Find Unmetered Hosting Providers?
There are review sites available to help you determine the best unmetered hosting providers. They evaluate both the provider’s claims and their track record. Most unmetered hosting plans cost between five and ten dollars a month and come with free web design tools and database access.
When you are researching your unmetered hosting options, do not pick a hosting service based on price alone. An extra one or two dollars a month can add both extra services and ensure that you are receiving a true unmetered hosting plan with no exclusions or restrictions on your usage.
Do your research and happy hosting!
As a website developer and consultant, Brian Anthony has extensively evaluated the majority of web hosting alternatives unmetered hosting. He passes that information on to his clients and provides in-depth reviews for Unmetered web hosting here.