BRap Hosting For Home and Small Business

This is the million dollar question. It's like this: With "shared hosting", you are given the use of a server, which is a computer with 24/7/365 access, but you are sharing the resources of the computer with others. Included in "resources" is disk space, bandwidth, memory and CPU (processor) time. Even if the computer's owners do not "oversell" in terms of disk space, that is, let's say they split their disk up into 500 pieces and sell exactly 500 packages or less, so that even if everybody fills up their entire allotment there will be room for everyone; still, regarding bandwidth, only so much information can be passed over the wires in a given second, and the CPU is only so fast, and RAM memory is only so big, so that, for example, if everybody tries to download at the same time, or run a program which is heavy in CPU usage, they can easily crash the server.

Now, every data center knows this, and besides that, the practice of "overselling" is common, and widely accepted, since most people do not come near to using their allotment of resources, like disk space and bandwidth. So in order to protect themselves, and also to protect the general community of customers so that the resources will be shared in a fair way, each data center establishes criteria for "unacceptable usage", and specifies in their Terms of Service that unacceptable usage is grounds for suspension. This can differ from one data center to another, and can also differ from month to month, as facts change, like the amount of customers and the demand on the resources. Not always is "unacceptable usage" clearly defined, and indeed it is difficult to quantify, and to a certain extent is dependent on the needs of the community of clients on that particular server.

If you have an operation that requires a high-level usage of server resources, then it could be that "shared hosting" is not for you, and you should be looking for VPS or dedicated server situation (which BRap Hosting can also provide). In general, most households and relatively small to medium businesses can do fine with shared hosting. But, for example, if you have a 500 megabyte download that you send to your mailing list of 12,000, you're going to be quickly banned, and I'm not going to be able to help you. This is difficult to quantify, and I don't mean to imply that less than that is OK. It depends.

I'll give you another example. Take a WPMU installation (WordPress Multi User). If you research the literature, you will see again and again that you can set up and run the installation on a shared server. But as soon as you grow to be even a little bit big, no shared hosting platform will allow you to stay. Because WPMU is heavy on CPU usage, and it's inappropriate for a shared hosting environment.

At BRap Hosting we offer hosting packages which include unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth. By definition, on a shared server, this obviously cannot be taken literally. What you gain from "unlimited allotment" is that you don't have to keep track of it (logging in to your cpanel every day for the second half of the month), and you won't be charged for bandwidth use over a certain amount, like some hosting companies where the package is cheap, but you pay through the nose for the bandwidth that you use above your quota. However, your use has to be in line so that it doesn't compromise the use of the other customers. In other words, you (probably) won't get in trouble for taking up too much disk space, nor for using too much bandwidth over the month. But you may very well get in trouble for using too much bandwidth too fast or too often, in a way that compromises the availability of resources for the other customers sharing the server.

BRap Hosting reserves the right to discontinue service with a customer who is using the server resources in an unacceptable, and exaggerated way.

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