Overselling is a big trend in the web-hosting world at the moment. It's an easy way to get more out of your servers than normally is possible. The basic idea of overselling is that the majority of your clients are only going to use a fraction of the resources allocated to them so there's going to be a lot of wasted bandwidth and space. Overselling involves taking a gamble and selling more than you can handle assuming that the unused resources will cover it.
Let's say for example that a server hard drive is 80GB and has 1200GB of bandwidth. The hosting company has a look around and decides that to be competitive they need to offer plans with 2GB of disk space and 40GB bandwidth. With these figures they can only offer 30 hosting packages per server. This leaves quite a bit of wasted disk space and after a few months the company will probably notice that their users aren't using all of the available bandwidth. Because of this the company then assumes that it can safely sell at least 10 more packages on the one server. If the original number of customers already covers general costs then the extra packages provided by overselling are pure profit.
The advantage of overselling for the host is that they make more money off each server than they otherwise normally would be able to. The advantage for the client is that this extra revenue is usually transferred on (at least in theory) by cheaper hosting packages with more features. The problem is that these features are often 'smoke and mirrors'. A few users would be able to use their entire allotment without any trouble, but if every single client were to build their website up to maximum capacity the host wouldn't be able to handle the sudden increase in demand without adding extra hard drives, buying more bandwidth, or perhaps even another server. This would most likely lead to a fair amount of downtime.
Web hosts aren't going to advertise the fact that they oversell. It's not something that will gain them customers and it's likely to drive away a few. In general however, they're likely to get away with it without any real problems. The reason the idea even exists is that it is true that the majority of websites don't use all of the space that's allocated to them. The problem is that it's not a particularly honest way of dealing with clients. It's a little like the 'Emperor's New Clothes' where the host is just hoping that no one notices the fact that a package is in fact a little nude.
Overselling will generally not be a problem unless a host gets too greedy and ends up selling much more than they could possibly provide for. On the other hand, it's not even necessary as the host can usually make enough money to make ends meet without overselling. It will generally be quite difficult for you to find out whether or not a host oversells unless they specifically advertise it, or they're well known for having problems due to excessive overselling. Just make sure you do some research and choose a reliable host, not necessarily the one that appears to offer ridiculous amounts of bandwidth or disk space for far too little money.
Daniel Punch
m6.net web helpers
Daniel Punch is a writer working at M6.Net: 'The web-hosting company for humans.' M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.
John's online business is expanding. His customers are increasing day... Read More
With literally thousands of web hosting companies in the industry... Read More
There are literally thousands of hosting solutions on the internet... Read More
1. The reliability of the service and their offers.A brand... Read More
If you run a website hosting business, you already know... Read More
You've already got a website, but your current hosting provider... Read More
When choosing a web hosting company there are a whole... Read More
With plethora of hosting companies offering services, choosing a good... Read More
Many online entrepreneurs these days are faced with the problem... Read More
Here are the following three methods that can help you... Read More
If you have ever used EBay then you know how... Read More
If you are looking for a solid, reliable web host,... Read More
The best way to explain this is by comparing it... Read More
In my opinion, free web hosting is one of the... Read More
General rule of thumb is not to sign up for... Read More
Reseller Defined:The term Reseller according to the dictionary means to... Read More
Deciding how to host your ecommerce Web site and what... Read More
Reseller webhosting can be a great way to earn some... Read More
After much Net surfing and looking at all the offers... Read More
Anybody who decides to get a web hosting service or... Read More
Whenever you have a technical question that needs answering, you... Read More
AutoResponders are nifty scripts that run in your web server... Read More
Selecting a web hosting company is like sending one of... Read More
After the dot.com bubble burst a few years back I... Read More
These days, web hosting companies are popping up faster than... Read More
A client of mine paid for a solo advert to... Read More
Many business owners find themselves in a quandary over the... Read More
The Basics:Web hosting offers you the opportunity to put your... Read More
Once you have considered the design for your website and... Read More
So you've decided to create a website? The most obvious... Read More
Let's face it, the Internet is here for good. Today's... Read More
Computers, Internet, Web sites?what do they all mean? Hey, you're... Read More
There is story of David and Goliath where Goliath would... Read More
Thousands of companies, tens of thousands of different plans and... Read More
The price of dedicated hosting services has really come down... Read More
Whatever type of website you want to host, choosing the... Read More
Just finished your first website? So it's the time to... Read More
So you want to publish a web site do you?... Read More
This article describes the technology behind multiple server hosting and... Read More
What is a Dedicated / Virtual Dedicated server and why... Read More
If you are anything like me, you'd probably like to... Read More
Many businesses, from one-man-bands to multi-national corporations, have a web-presence... Read More
Web Hosting is a service. Auto mechanics also provide a... Read More
The website hosting business is very competitive these days with... Read More
Linux web hosting is so named, based on the operating... Read More
For those of you who don't really understand where or... Read More
If you've ever browsed the World Wide Web and wondered... Read More
Bandwidth in its simplest terms refers to the amount of... Read More
Getting your own dedicated server for your business is a... Read More
One of the most confusing decisions someone new to web... Read More
Web Hosting |