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Read our expert Website Hosting Reviews to find the best web hosting company to meet your website needs. We have all been to websites that have nothing more then a message that says "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded". So what does this mean and why is the bandwidth exceeded message there instead of the website? Bandwidth or data transfer time is measured like cell phone minutes. If your plan calls for 1000 minutes a month and you go over, your cell phone company has 2 options. Ignore all calls over the 1000 minutes or you pay a big charge for the time over your limit. The same occurs with your website. In the past, and with some less competitive web hosts, you would get a certain amount of bandwidth for the price you paid per month. If you buy a website with a set amount of bandwidth and If you go over your bandwidth allotment, the site shuts down. The biggest problem is, you have no control over how much bandwidth is used and as the site becomes more visible you will attract a certain amount of bot activity which could download the entire website many times a day. If you have a 200 page website, heavy bot traffic can cost you hundreds of dollars a month in bandwidth. If your plan is $10, then the site could be closed most of the month. When this happens, the searches can't read your website, you get excluded from the search engines and you cannot do any business. Companies like HostPapa, BlueHost, and HostGator offer unlimited bandwidth plans so the website can never close. They manage use by content and keep the websites on the servers limited to low use e-commerce sites rather than high bandwidth hogs. As with any unlimited plan, there are limits. But there is never any extra charge for over use of bandwidth and websites never close. Where the biggest mistake is made is when companies advertise sales and specials and the site closes in the middle of a big promotion. They lose all the traffic they paid so much to get! All the advertising is wasted and all the customers they get at the website get a message that the site is closed. It makes the company look bad and ends up costing more than just lost advertising as current customers lose confidence. It is understandable for a company not wanting to be charged thousands of dollars for overages. But there are alternatives and smart companies buy dedicated bandwidth such as 10 T-1 lines. Unfortunately that is way beyond the financial reach of most people and not an option for most small businesses. But there are a handful of companies that offer unlimited bandwidth options like HostPapa, BlueHost, and HostGator.
If you are not on an unlimited plan or your host employs bandwidth limiting you face the possibility of your site closing at any time without warning and likely at the worst times. Many of the people that read this website have moved their websites to an unlimited host only after being told by customers that the site shut down half way through the payment process. Of that the site has been unreachable for several days. Most people want to blame the hosting company, but its not their fault. they need to sell the bandwidth at a profit. If you pay $600 a month for a T-1 that will need to earn $1200 not to mention the cost of servers. So you break it up and sell off pieces. If people use up their piece, it closes. It is really up to the business to realize what they have and look for a plan that will keep their website open.
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