The "Unlimited Bandwidth" Myth: Port Speed vs. Data Transfer

You have seen the ads: "Shared Hosting with Unlimited Storage and Unlimited Bandwidth for $2.99/mo." It sounds like an incredible deal. It is also technically impossible.

In the world of networking, physics still applies. There is no such thing as an infinite hard drive or an infinite network cable. At Hovixa, we believe in transparency. Here is what "Unlimited" actually means—and why a specific, metered plan is almost always faster.

1. Bandwidth vs. Data Transfer

Marketing teams often use these terms interchangeably, but they measure two completely different things.

• Bandwidth (Speed): This is the width of the pipe. It is measured in Mbps or Gbps. It determines how many users can visit your site simultaneously without it slowing down.
• Data Transfer (Volume): This is the amount of water flowing through the pipe. It is measured in GB or TB per month.

The Trap: A host might give you "Unlimited Transfer" (Volume), but cap your "Bandwidth" (Speed) at a slow 10Mbps. You can transfer infinite data, but it will take forever to do it.

2. The "Fair Usage" Policy

Every "Unlimited" plan has a Terms of Service (ToS) clause called the Fair Usage Policy. It is the trapdoor.

3. The Port Speed Bottleneck

Your server connects to the internet via a physical port. This is the ultimate limit.

Cheap hosts often split a single 1 Gbps port among 500 customers. If everyone tries to use it at once, nobody gets speed. "Unlimited" doesn't help when the pipe is clogged.

4. Why Metered Plans Are Faster

At Hovixa, we tell you exactly what you get: e.g., 5TB Transfer on a 1Gbps Port.

Because we cap the volume, we don't need to throttle the speed. We keep our server density low so that when you need that full 1Gbps speed for a traffic spike, it is actually available.