Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.

Last night, as I was about to check on my website, that message flashed on my computer screen. Huh? What da - I can’t open my site!!!!I don’t know what bandwidth is. Yes, I am IT illiterate, as I have mentioned in previous blogs.

So I consulted my BFF (bestfriend forever) Google, and one site said that bandwidth is the size of your web content X number of visitors that accessed that web page = your consumed bandwidth. What does this mean? Ok, in my own terms - Bad news: I shouldn’t have used lots of graphics coz they make my web content size bigger. Uh-uh, i think i need to take out some of the christmas pic. Good news: I am increasing traffic – equals more people visiting my site! Yehey!!! This of course is to acknowledge my growing friends in the wide wide world of blogosphere. I am thankful, of course, gratified is the better word, I think.

Anyways, I just got frustrated with my webhost last night. My plan is 100MB webspace and 2.5GB bandwidth for a subscription of Php138 every month. I paid quarterly so that I could save for domain registration (which is supposedly Php500 for a year but offered free for quarterly payers). Everything went well with my webhost, until I encountered this bandwidth problem. Good thing, they have a 24-hour online customer service, which I consulted immediately. They have a chat online support, which answered my queries right away, but couldn’t help me anyway. Since I exceeded my bandwidth limit for the month, my website won’t be accessed for the rest of December!!!What? Oh my, I cannot see my beautifulandhappy baby for that long?

Ok, so this morning, I made an email again to the customer support, sent an sms brigade to the mobile number in their site, even called them numerous times - in short, i bugged them! I was out this morning coz my kinder Miguel has a practice for their Christmas Presentation plus I ran an some errands including one for my neighbor who asked me to send money for her via Western Union. So, busy, busy, as a bee and I needed to pay them before I pick up Miguel at 12pm.

The solution? I should upgrade my plan to Php275 a month to double my current bandwidth). Since I don’t have a choice, I agreed, but based on my computation, I just needed to pay the difference of Php137 monthly (coz my previous plan is 138 or Php414 quarterly). So I was thinking I just needed to pay the Php411, then I would minus the 6pesos I overpaid them for this quarter (coz I paid my original plan Php420 instead of 414). So thinking I just needed to pay Php411-6= Php405, I filled out the send form of Western Union, but then I received a call that I needed to pay the Php414, since I am doubling the bandwidth. I sent them a text, and said why should I pay 414 and explained my computation. They called me back, and she said she’ll check, blah, blah, but she can’t get why I just have to pay Php405, then the call was cut.

Frustrated, I just paid the Php414 she told me, coz I needed to go back for Miguel. I am a little upset, because, even if it was just 9pesos, I felt a little cheated, it’s a matter of principle even if the amount is just small, right? I paid extra before, thinking that they would credit that to my account. Plus, if I upgraded to 275, should I just pay the difference of 137 and not the 138 again? Hay, buhay. Di bale, mas madaming 9pesos na babalik sa akin!hehe, milyones pa siguro (wow, big dreams!Hindi pa naman ako tumaya sa lotto-hehe).

So now, I am seriously looking at changing my webhost provider, I actually emailed a company coz their package is whole lot cheaper (only Php100 a month for 10GB - double of my upgraded plan of 5GB). I will just have to settle the necessary transfers, specially the domain name registration after I finish my current subscription in February. So one lesson I learned before signing up for any service, check first if there’s a better alternative - and cheaper but value for my money.

Ok, so for fellow bloggers who have their own webhost providers, I wish to share with you the following tips on how to avoid exceeded bandwidth (and paying unnecessary extra) like what happened to me:

1) Make the file size of your web pages as small as possible.
2) Keep the images on your web site to a minimum. For the images included in your web site, use .JPG or .GIF compression tools to reduce the size and still keep the quality at an acceptable level.
3) Try not to offer too many downloadable files. If your have to offer downloadable files, it is best to only include the ones around 1 MB in size.(Source: www.articlealley.com)

Lastly, I just wanna say, I’M BACK!!! Offering you more of my life musings and ramblings – and a whole lot more!!!!

               

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 7:46 pm and is filed under No nonsense . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.