The unlimited bandwidth model works on some pre-conceptions which are founded on years of statistics. Let's take a look at our own customers for example:

On average each domain is storing 100MB of data and using 1GB of bandwidth each month.

As our server has a total disk space and bandwidth allocation which is way in excess of the combined usage of our customers, we could take the lead from other hosting companies and market unlimited space and bandwidth knowing that we'd probably never hit our server's limits.

But that probably is the nasty caveat, all it takes is for one or more sites on the server to test the unlimited offer by making large and legal files available for download (a record or video editing company for example). If those files were popular enough to attract some serious attention, those few sites could take down the whole server including our loyal customers who would be non-pleased.

To be fair, the more reputable companies offering unlimited bandwidth have taken measures to protect those who do no attempt to use unlimited bandwidth. Confused? well you should be as this totally contradicts the 'unlimited' part of the offer.

This protection will normally come in the form of an 'acceptable usage policy' which dictates that any account using too much bandwidth will be suspended without notice, and normally with no recourse or at least a very hard time trying to get the account unsuspended.

I consider this get-out-clause from hosting suppliers as skirting the lines of deliberate mis-representation. Ultimately there is a limit on how much bandwidth you can use. That limit may be fluid - in that it depends on what the average of all the customers on a server are using - but it still exists and therefore should not be marketed as unlimited.

As with everything it all comes down to your organisation's individual situation and requirements. Do a little research and make an informed decision.

Our standard business level hosting plan is £85 including 250MB of space and 3GB of bandwidth. Our average customer uses only 30% of each, and that's including those customers who are on higher plans with double and triple the allocations.

If you compare that £85 to the highly attractive offerings of Streamline.net - picked as they are paying Google to be the top adWord advert for unlimited bandwidth - where a comparable plan giving 250MB of disk space is just £18.99 per year then there are savings to be had of over £60. However, the first term in their general terms and conditions deals with the unlimited usage policy and states:

"When a website is found to be monopolising the resources available Streamline.Net reserves the right to suspend that site immediately."

And there is a further page dedicated to their acceptable use terms and conditions which lists a lot of 'limits' imposed on their 'unlimited' hosting accounts.

Equally attractive to the unlimited bandwidth is the fact you get a free .uk domain in with the £18.99 price. However, this leaves the company with a tiny profit margin to be able to offer the inevitable human support that will be required during the term of the hosting contract?

A quick search on reviews of this company brought me to 363 reviews at reviewcentre.com and to be objective there are some people who highly recommend the service rating 8 or higher but on the first page there are 3 people who rate them 0 out of 10 and the main gripe seems to be that there is in fact no telephone support.

It could be surmised that those giving higher ratings are newer customers who love the pricing and have not yet had technical support issues. Those who have had support issues - which they say were dealt with to their dissatisfaction - felt so compelled to act that they rated the company 0 out of 10?

In conclusion ... it pays to do some quick research when weighing up if the £60 saving is really worth being in a situation where your site may go down and you're not sure if the support will be there to resolve it.