How unlimited is “unlimited”? Remember “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!” It’s all about enticing one to use a product or service. Food and cosmetic companies give out free samples in hopes that you’re going to enjoy the sample and buy the product. Automobile companies offer free test drives betting that you are going to enjoy the car and make a purchase. Other companies are much more creative and perhaps a little sneaky about how they entice you to use their products or services. German born physicist Albert Einstein said, “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.” How can a company afford to offer unlimited disk space, bandwidth or websites?  In truth, they can’t.  Instead they change the facts by changing what the limits are based on. Instead of limited disk space, they limit:

  • the number of files one account can store,
  • the number of databases,
  • the number of connections,
  • data transfers.

All of these solutions will have the same effect of limiting resources. Don’t forget about those legal notices that we so often ignore. I mean who wants to spend a half an hour reading some long winded legal mumbo jumbo when all you want to do is lock in this great deal you’re getting before it goes away.

Ever wonder why legal policies and disclaimers are so lengthy and redundant. The answer is in the details. Omit one seemingly insignificant requirement and what you have is one enormous loophole. One missed detail could mean the difference between a good deal and a rip off. I woke this morning to a brilliant example of the consequences of my inattention to detail. Last night, I beamed with joy at my daughters Facebook status update exclaiming her happiness. The second child of three she never tried to compete with her older sister, the athletic and scholastic genius. Instead, she took on a common role for middle children, affectionate rebel and drama queen. She longed to look the part of her rebel role complete with body piercing and tattoos. As any parent will tell you, bribery and negotiation are the best way to handle a rebellious child.  Worn down from years of constant nagging, I finally resorted to bribery, giving her permission to pierce her nose when she made the schools honor roll.

Leave it to my little rebel to find the loophole in our arrangement. Summer school, where all you need to do is show up, flash that dazzling smile and bat your eyelashes at the young teacher fresh from college to be the best student in the class. Yes, she made the honor roll in summer school and yesterday claimed her prize. A sparkling new piece of jewelry stuck through my baby girl’s perfect little nose! While I meticulously detail the agreement for my eleven-year-old stunner, master manipulator and cunning negotiator, I have a newfound respect for the long, seemingly superfluous legal policies and disclaimers once loathed. Let this be a warning to parents everywhere to close those loopholes!

Now getting back to the topic at hand, the unbelievable deal you are being offered with “UNLIMITED” this and that.  Loopholes work both ways.  A loophole can offer a way around an agreement like my nose piercing rebel, or it can be the way around the offer entirely.  By putting thousands and thousands of websites on a single server, sharing a single IP address you are in effect limiting the resources you are providing.  Your website will run slow, hang and fail to connect sending potential customers to your competitor that didn’t take advantage of the same unlimited offer. Ready, here’s the kicker…the loophole buried deep in legal jargon.  “In the event the bandwidth or disk space usage presents a risk to the stability, performance or uptime of our servers, data storage, networking or other infrastructure, you may be required to UPGRADE or we may take action to restrict the resources you are utilizing.” That’s right RESTRICT resources, right there in print. There goes your great deal and after you have put in hours and hours of time and money moving everything over to utilize this deal that was just too good to be true.