01-28-2009, 08:45 AM
In the shared hosting industry, there are currently two business models in practice. The limited models, with limits on disk space and bandwidth, and the unmetered models with no limits, have a few things in common. On both models, the real resource that the hosting company is selling you is CPU and Memory, and the “time” to use those resources. Since it’s shared, you’re “sharing” a server’s CPU, Memory, Diskspace, and Bandwidth. There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding overselling, and how it is detrimental. Overselling means some companies are selling more of the server’s resources than they actually have available. However, it’s misunderstood on what is actually being oversold. Most people have said that if you have the unmetered model, then they are overselling. In a way, they are overselling, however when you oversell on diskspace and bandwidth, it doesn’t always effect the performance of the server, and cause a detrimental impact to your websites.
Consumers have experienced detrimental effects when companies oversell on CPU and Memory. When a customer feels the effects and believes it’s due to the unlimited diskspace and bandwidth, that’s usually not what’s truly being oversold. In that case, its CPU usage and Memory, there are physically too many accounts on the server. What most consumers don’t realize is that overselling can occur on both the limited and unlimited business models. Overselling has been discussed in many popular forums, but most customers and even hosting companies disagree on what the definition of overselling is, and what really impacts the customer. If companies manage CPU and Memory usage very effectively, then overselling on diskspace and bandwidth doesn’t really impact the customer at all.
With that said about the different hosting models, I’d like to compare some packages from a limited host, and some from an unmetered host. First up is HostGator, a popular unmetered host. On their shared hosting plans, they offer unlimited diskspace and bandwidth, and have a few minor differences between packages. The pricing ranges from 4.95 and more per month. Although CPU usage isn’t specified, you can find it in the Terms of Service. A user “may not use 25% or more of system resources for longer than 90 seconds.” This applies to all packages regardless of whether or not you upgrade. I researched several limited hosts, and all their Terms of Service pages didn’t specify what amount of CPU you can use before you get suspended. They just have abuse clauses. So, let’s say you purchase an account with 1GB of Diskspace and 10GB of bandwidth. You might be able to use those, but you have only a set amount of CPU usage. What about when you upgrade to the next package? You may get more diskspace and bandwidth, but what if you really need more CPU horsepower? You’ll still be stuck. Limited hosts can oversell CPU usage just like the unlimited hosts. Although you may upgrade packages, you still have the same amount of CPU power, and you might still get suspended. What happens when you need more CPU and it won’t be solved by upgrading packages? The host would then try to upsell you to a VPS or a dedicated server. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Hosts should simply allow you to purchase more CPU, have a greater share of server resources.
So, how about a new form of pricing? How about packages which allow you to purchase more CPU and Memory resources? How about hosting that actually fits the needs of your website rather than purchasing or upgrading resources that you won’t use?
Consumers have experienced detrimental effects when companies oversell on CPU and Memory. When a customer feels the effects and believes it’s due to the unlimited diskspace and bandwidth, that’s usually not what’s truly being oversold. In that case, its CPU usage and Memory, there are physically too many accounts on the server. What most consumers don’t realize is that overselling can occur on both the limited and unlimited business models. Overselling has been discussed in many popular forums, but most customers and even hosting companies disagree on what the definition of overselling is, and what really impacts the customer. If companies manage CPU and Memory usage very effectively, then overselling on diskspace and bandwidth doesn’t really impact the customer at all.
With that said about the different hosting models, I’d like to compare some packages from a limited host, and some from an unmetered host. First up is HostGator, a popular unmetered host. On their shared hosting plans, they offer unlimited diskspace and bandwidth, and have a few minor differences between packages. The pricing ranges from 4.95 and more per month. Although CPU usage isn’t specified, you can find it in the Terms of Service. A user “may not use 25% or more of system resources for longer than 90 seconds.” This applies to all packages regardless of whether or not you upgrade. I researched several limited hosts, and all their Terms of Service pages didn’t specify what amount of CPU you can use before you get suspended. They just have abuse clauses. So, let’s say you purchase an account with 1GB of Diskspace and 10GB of bandwidth. You might be able to use those, but you have only a set amount of CPU usage. What about when you upgrade to the next package? You may get more diskspace and bandwidth, but what if you really need more CPU horsepower? You’ll still be stuck. Limited hosts can oversell CPU usage just like the unlimited hosts. Although you may upgrade packages, you still have the same amount of CPU power, and you might still get suspended. What happens when you need more CPU and it won’t be solved by upgrading packages? The host would then try to upsell you to a VPS or a dedicated server. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Hosts should simply allow you to purchase more CPU, have a greater share of server resources.
So, how about a new form of pricing? How about packages which allow you to purchase more CPU and Memory resources? How about hosting that actually fits the needs of your website rather than purchasing or upgrading resources that you won’t use?