Ever wonder why some web hosting companies are able to offer shared hosting services at ridiculously low prices? These companies are more than likely engaging in the act of overselling.
Overselling is when a hosting company sells more disk space and bandwidth on a server than actually exists. For example, say the server is oversold by only 50GB of storage/bandwidth. Overselling is not really an issue here since the amount is small and most sites on the server aren’t using all of their allocated resources. However, say the server is oversold by 1000GB of storage/bandwidth. This situation can cause the server to have performance issues and even go offline if enough sites are using their allocated resources.
So what are the best ways to protect yourself from overselling? First, you can research potential hosting companies at Web Hosting Talk. The user base there is very knowledgeable and has years of experience in the web hosting industry. Second, beware of very low prices when looking for web hosting services. If you come across a deal that says you can have 50GB of storage and 100GB of bandwidth for only $1/month, then the deal is probably too good to be true and the host is engaging in overselling to lure in masses of customers. This is not always the case, but is a good guideline to follow.
Always do your research before signing up for web hosting services. In the end, you’ll be glad you did, even if you end up paying more for better service.
