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This is the story of typically bad business decision of offering anything "unlimited". I just cancelled my account with the vendor of "unlimited" cloud storage

by gesman 7y ago

This is the story of typically bad business decision of offering anything "unlimited". I just cancelled my account with the vendor of "unlimited" cloud storage (who would throttle uploads to their promised unlimited cloud storage to curb the effects of bad business decision) to the benefit of clear, high performance vendor. Whenver you see "unlimited" or "unlimted forever" - question this. If nothing else - ride the wave but don't expect it to be "unlimited" or "forever".

peterkelly 7y ago
I once saw an ISP in Thailand advertising "unlimited speed": https://imgur.com/a/Gcl6JTF https://imgur.com/a/Gcl6JTF
- npiht 7y ago
  It could mean that the speed is uncapped to what the physical medium and the current network congestion allows.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
philjohn 7y ago
Backblaze seems to have made a business model out of unlimited cloud backup for a single computer. They do it by building their own super high capacity, super low cost storage pods, deduplicating data and relying on the fact that most people don't have multiple TB of data on their personal computers.
- Slartie 7y ago
  And by refusing to offer a Linux version of their backup tool, which would be a totally logical thing to do, given their apparent focus on tech-savvy customers (just look at how and where they advertise). Tech-savvy people use Linux on their machines far more often than the average customer, So supporting it would be a no-brainer. But people also tend to use Linux on machines with lots of disk space, like home servers. Wouldn't it be nice if those could backup their 30TB locally attached storage with the unlimited plan? Nope, not for Backblaze, which is why they shy away from Linux and try to get Linux users to buy their pay-per-Gigabyte plan (for which they miraculously are able to provide Linux support...).
  - philjohn 7y ago
    Indeed - having a huge NAS that all of your home computers back up to, which then backs up to Backblaze would be an obvious workaround for buying multiple licenses ... although why go to that trouble when it's $6 a month per computer? That's one fancy coffee.
- gesman 7y ago
  "Your external hard drives need to be connected to your computer and scanned by Backblaze at least once every 30 days in order to keep them backed up" -- Backblaze In other words - instead of backing up your data - backblaze may delete it unless you read and understand their fine print. I'd never deal with provider sneaking in such a nonsense behind loud claims of "unlimited anything"
  - philjohn 7y ago
    They email you repeatedly if they haven't seen your drive for at least 14 days warning of this.
mpeg 7y ago
Supermarket chain Lidl had a promotion over a decade ago where they sold Air Berlin flights for 20€, the vouchers could be exchange for open seats in any flight for a year after the promotion was on. I bought dozens of them, and basically spent a whole year travelling for essentially nothing, and like the author in the story giving away air tickets on a whim.
usrusr 7y ago
This. Don't try to win against whoever you do business with, look for arrangements where both sides can get their needs well catered for. If it looks like you are winning what the other is losing, there must be something hidden that you can't see, likely something big and important (like e.g. the insurance being exceptionally good at finding reasons for not paying). If it looks kind of balanced, there is at least a chance that the impression is not misleading.

by gesman 7y ago

peterkelly 7y ago

I once saw an ISP in Thailand advertising "unlimited speed": https://imgur.com/a/Gcl6JTF https://imgur.com/a/Gcl6JTF

npiht 7y ago
It could mean that the speed is uncapped to what the physical medium and the current network congestion allows.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

philjohn 7y ago

Backblaze seems to have made a business model out of unlimited cloud backup for a single computer. They do it by building their own super high capacity, super low cost storage pods, deduplicating data and relying on the fact that most people don't have multiple TB of data on their personal computers.

Slartie 7y ago
And by refusing to offer a Linux version of their backup tool, which would be a totally logical thing to do, given their apparent focus on tech-savvy customers (just look at how and where they advertise). Tech-savvy people use Linux on their machines far more often than the average customer, So supporting it would be a no-brainer. But people also tend to use Linux on machines with lots of disk space, like home servers. Wouldn't it be nice if those could backup their 30TB locally attached storage with the unlimited plan? Nope, not for Backblaze, which is why they shy away from Linux and try to get Linux users to buy their pay-per-Gigabyte plan (for which they miraculously are able to provide Linux support...).
- philjohn 7y ago
  Indeed - having a huge NAS that all of your home computers back up to, which then backs up to Backblaze would be an obvious workaround for buying multiple licenses ... although why go to that trouble when it's $6 a month per computer? That's one fancy coffee.
gesman 7y ago
"Your external hard drives need to be connected to your computer and scanned by Backblaze at least once every 30 days in order to keep them backed up" -- Backblaze In other words - instead of backing up your data - backblaze may delete it unless you read and understand their fine print. I'd never deal with provider sneaking in such a nonsense behind loud claims of "unlimited anything"
- philjohn 7y ago
  They email you repeatedly if they haven't seen your drive for at least 14 days warning of this.

mpeg 7y ago

Supermarket chain Lidl had a promotion over a decade ago where they sold Air Berlin flights for 20€, the vouchers could be exchange for open seats in any flight for a year after the promotion was on. I bought dozens of them, and basically spent a whole year travelling for essentially nothing, and like the author in the story giving away air tickets on a whim.

usrusr 7y ago

This. Don't try to win against whoever you do business with, look for arrangements where both sides can get their needs well catered for. If it looks like you are winning what the other is losing, there must be something hidden that you can't see, likely something big and important (like e.g. the insurance being exceptionally good at finding reasons for not paying). If it looks kind of balanced, there is at least a chance that the impression is not misleading.