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Free hosts offering Gigs and Gigs...

L

LiveHost

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I'm seeing a lot of free web hosts about these days offering 10gig of this and 20gig of that.

Last Autumn I signed up to a free host offering 22GB of web space. After getting my account I uploaded a sysinfo script which showed the server only having a 80GB hard drive. Needless to the say, the free host shut up shop a few weeks later after the hard drive became 90% full.

The question is, is offering tens of gigabytes of web space really sustainable?
 
Needless to say, whether or not offering tens of gigabytes of web space is sustainable depends on what you are willing to spend.
 
Some hosts do fine with this; some do not. T35 is a good example of a free host doing fine offering unlimited space and bandwidth to its users - and has been doing so for quite some time now, so it's certainly not fly-by-night. The trick is to limit users on things like file-size and PHP functions so they cannot be abusive; the service is free and you need to cover your costs. Furthermore (I used to not hold this opinion, but after more experience, I now do!), there is no real reason for any file in a Website (even images!) to be over 512 kb. If someone needs to host images or files larger than that, they should find a specialized image or file host.

I think the idea of unlimited free hosting is that your normal Website has all the space it needs and you don't have to worry about growth. The idea certainly is not to fill up all the space with a backup from your computer!
 
I would add Dreamhosts to TSO's list. They are a paid service though but the price they charge is very low.

Space doesn't have a huge overhead anyway, most people will never fill over 300mb and I think the combination of the two makes it just about viable to 'offer' that space, in some cases ;)
 
well unfortunately since all hosts do it it's hard for those of us who don't oversell our servers to compete...so we are forced to oversell just a little bit...

Basically a little overselling alright in hopes that most users will not use their limit. For example, we got our server with only 100 gigs of space and 1000 monthly transfer. Only 15 gigs of space were used so far and 150 transfer :p. And the server is running nearly as fast as it was when it had 1 account on it! Overselling is alright...but too much overselling...that's what kills a host.

Our plan at rackfree is to upgrade the space/bw when we get to using around 70-80% of our resources. for now...it would just be a waste of cash.
 
LP host can never be trust most but they can count how much of them that still alive.
cPanel P4host most easy to tell for which host that good stands or bad stands. But for cPanel instant activation quite hard to tell, Mostly untrustable.
 
I personally think that the hosts are not really at fault when the server goes down, like people think they are.
Host X offering 50 GB of Disc Space and gives it to 10 people. Nothing really wrong with that as chances are the 10 people will probably only use about 10 gig of it.
But then you get people who take advantage and take the piss and overload the server with garbage just so they can say "That host was useless. I uploaded 50 GB of files just to see what would happen and it crashed"
 
The overselling is just going to get worse and worse as people are going to try to beat another. There is going to be nothing that can stop it and the standard for free hosting is going to be higher than paid hosting eventually, however these free hosts may not be able to offer what the are advertising.

Overselling just a little amount is alright, however it is getting ridiculous now.
 
I have to agree with all but at who will we have to say thanks? Someone for the first time offered an unlimited package (also for paid) and now people want more and more and more, gigs of gigs... for what? I bet that the bigger website hosted is less than 100/200 mb, but this is something we say, something we know but no one is going to shut up this kind of service... sorry all, this is just a way to "vent" and not to explode!
 
Pff... you really don't understand.

I'm almost sure you know what Overselling means. It's the same thing for free hosts too: giving more accounts than your host can keep.
 
Dan said:
I personally think that the hosts are not really at fault when the server goes down, like people think they are.
Host X offering 50 GB of Disc Space and gives it to 10 people. Nothing really wrong with that as chances are the 10 people will probably only use about 10 gig of it.
But then you get people who take advantage and take the piss and overload the server with garbage just so they can say "That host was useless. I uploaded 50 GB of files just to see what would happen and it crashed"
Click to expand...

I can't agree with you on this one Dan. If I'm offered 50 gb on any webhost there's no excuse the host can give me to avoid using them. If they're giving me 50 gb, why should I only use 10 gb? Just because that's what he can afford?

:beer:
 
I'm going to agree with Dan, I believe if a host oversells and has the right ToS in place, it will work. Put some restrictions on files and such. The restrictions prevent abuse. A web-host is not a file server such as megaupload or rapidshare. Keep the junk on your computer or upload elsewhere.

I've had a client as for 5Gb of disk space, and that is fine. But, then he told me that it would be used to host video files and I declined. My servers are not to be used for hosting a user's hard-drive. I am merely a host that offers space/bandwidth to those wanting to start a website and keep it running, not to serve as a personal hard-drive.
 
Well, like mentioned by Schmarvin and Dan, as long as the ToS has the correct and most stringent Rules regarding massive uploads and Users taking the Web Host as a Online Hard Drive being implemented, it will be sustainable. This being said, of course, the Web Host can not possibly get a 2GB HDD and 20GB BW Reseller account, and expect to host a thousand customers offering each 5GB of space and 50GB of bandwidth.
 
Over Selling

I agree that over selling is a problem. What we do with our customers is help them evaluate their usage plan to make sure we can offer them the solution they need. We go out to the local buisness and sell the products in person as well as via the internet, two different selling fields. Its about being honest, you wont sell every customer and not every customer is fitted for your company. The best policy is to sell what you have and be honest. Most of all keep your customers in mind before you get dollar signs in your eyes. It takes time to build a rock solid company of any kind. Dont rush it. And Most Of All Be HONEST!
 
Counterpoint on File Sizes

I will agree to disagree with TSO here.
Portion: "Furthermore (I used to not hold this opinion, but after more experience, I now do!), there is no real reason for any file in a Website (even images!) to be over 512 kb. If someone needs to host images or files larger than that, they should find a specialized image or file host.

I think the idea of unlimited free hosting is that your normal Website has all the space it needs and you don't have to worry about growth. The idea certainly is not to fill up all the space with a backup from your computer!"

1. "Unlimited space" means that you put some serious work into your backbone and are saying that you can handle some heavy use as long as it is fair. Pairing "unlimited use" with "file size<512k" is shady. Web pages are NOT postcards and lolcats! Webpages are the front end to the complete range of content.

2. "Get a file host". No. Fairly used, link called etc, a full web experience contains files. Simple as that. "Hi! My buddy made a song in his garage. Download it!". Page = 100k, song = 3.6 megs. End of web account. I comissioned a special software utility I intend to offer at some 6 megs.

3. Don't hide the real reason behind a politically correct one. If you don't like "spammers", then configure your account to discourage them. If you don't like "file hosts" then require >50% of files to be weblinked. (Not100% - alt versions, drafts, etc.)

4. ** For the love of apple pies, do NOT hide Copyright Paranoia behind a file size restriction!! Yes, I know about the blisteringly stupid Thomas ruling. I am phenomenally careful with my materials. I want to make a nice little page. Don't hide behind a "policy" when you're really afraid of some remotely-likely DMCA trouble.
 
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