Unlimited bandwidth?

Hello

I was talking to a offshore hosting provider which was recommended on this forum and they had this unlimited bandwidth vps plan.

I am not very good at technology and stuff but have been told that there is no such a thing called 'unlimited bandwidth'.

So I was asking this person about their 'unlimited bandwidth' and what it means?

and I was laughed at.

This person said (we are both from non English speaking countries) that

'Unlimited bandwidth
This means.
HaHa'


So now I am not sure what unlimited bandwidth means. Was it really that stupid question?
Can anyone please explain what it really means?

Thanks

...

There will be a fair useage policy in the tiny small print of their T&Cs.

People aren't going to let you have unlimited on a $5 a month shared package, when they want you to upgraded to a server.

It means that you will be limited. They won't let you use 1 Gbit/s constantly 24/7 they will limit you by fair usage.

But unmetered doesn't mean infinite bandwidth, rather it implies that a server is allowed to use the maximum network speed. On the other hand, "Unlimited bandwidth" ideally means that as far as the amount of data-transfer goes, you can download or upload as much data as you want in a given period of time.

Make sure to read the TOS. There really is no unlimited bandwidth.

Unlimited bandwidth means the amount of bytes that flow through the wire on one month is technically not capped.

But. Here's the catch: the bytes per second rate is capped. So you can transfer as much as you can inside 256 kbps or something like that (not sure about the cap speed, just guessing here).

If you multiply 256 kbps by the number of seconds in a month, that's your LIMITED bandwidth.

Just a marketing gimmick. Nothing is unlimited.

Thank you all for your responses. I kind of knew that there is no such a thing called 'unlimited'. But being laughed at only because I asked that question made me think maybe I was wrong. Thank you all again for clarifying this for me.

..

I might be late, but check their tos there should be something about it

There is no such 'unlimited' term for a budget service You will either find a fair use policy somewhere on their website or that provider basically scammer / go bankrupt after a while.

Technically saying, if they give you 1 Gbps true unlimited, and assuming you will use 1 Gbps speed 24/7 for a month, the total bandwidth you consumed would be ~330 TB/m which will cost your provider at least 400$/m for the cheapest transit ISP (he.net/cogent).

Aside from bandwidth cost, there is hardware, operation, colocation, administration, payment process cost. And we are talking about a service that cost 5$/m or even 20$/yr which is not viable at all.

So don't be surprised if your budget service got slower speed at random time, since your uplink is shared among other customers as well, not dedicated to your service. As long as the provider can keep track of abusive users and apply fair share term, it would be okay.

* When you are planning to ask for a reputable provider for a true 1Gbps unlimited bandwidth, be sure you prepare your budget at least 600$/m before reaching out. Otherwise it would be a big NO.
* Why you guys ask for unlimited bandwidth when your usage doesn't reach 500 GB/m or your website only has a few thousand of visit/m? Be realistic with your requirement, prepare yourself to spend more to scale your service if needed.

Let me know if you guys have any question