What to look for in a Host......--->>

[hostvox]

Hello Everyone,

Many of you ask the same question over and over.

"Why are there so many web hosts with so many options"?

The awnser is 50% of them are all resellers, now that isnt a bad thing that just means, they are renting for a server and reselling hosting to you.

What should you look for before you sign up a new account with your new host?

Follow these steps:

1. Email them (send their support dept an email to see how long it takes for them to get back to you)

2. Ping their IP address or do a tracert. (make sure the reply times are less them 100)

3. Check Hostsearch.com reviews on that company.

4. Make sure they offer 30 day money back..

5. When you sign up with your new host, make sure your entering your info on SSL......


I hope this helps some....

[Martie]

I would agree with most those answers with the exception of #2.
Nowdays alot of hosts "disable" ICMP packets due to security issues, etc.

[znetindia]

Always assess a host's reliability before entrusting them with your website or your reseller business.

Some of the tips you must remember while choosing your Host :

How many tech support do they have ?
What's the process of obtaining support with them ?
Do they Back up regularly ?
What are their support hours ?
Good practice monitoring and maintenance such as procedures for detecting errors, backing-up data and the time response guarantee for the support queries ?

Above all do a background search..that's MUST.

1) Check how old the main domain of the co. is ( If a co. is 2 -3 years old you can assume that they are still financially stable..though that should not be the only way how you can judge a co.)
2) Check Google & some other host directories for their PTR.
3) Do a search on hosting forums about them.
4) Never ever trust_a_hosting_co. who offers dead cheap ....theirs a difference in between offering cheap & offering competitive prices, use your instincts to analyze the difference. Remember, a co. offering dead cheap may not sustain the high costs which comes when they grow their infrastructure & then they eventually collapse.
5) Don't be in hurry while ordering..check their response time to your queries during first 2 -3 days and try to speak with them on phone, that way you can ensure that the co. is not run by a 14 years old kid under his garage
6) Always insist on phone no's & an emergency cell no where u could reach them during the time of crisis.

and finally remember ..experience is the best teacher...so learn from your experiences and never do the same mistakes you did in past while choosing your host.

Wish you all the very best

[Everyday]

Keep in mind that with the advent of SPAM a lot of hosts do not allow email to be sent to support@address.com since it can flood a support desk with SPAM. We require customers to place a ticket through our support desk and that works very well. I wish we could do the same for the sales and billing address :)

We block ICMP sometimes as well.

Other things to look at are the hosts forums (if they have any)

Try giving them a call at 10 or 11 at night to check on their true 24x7 phone support.

Since we service mostly resellers I can't say that buying from one is bad. What you need to take into account is, is this a real business for them or not? Also, who do they resell for and how good is their hosts support?

Hope that helps people :)

[1PlanHost]

I agree with most of the criteria listed above. It has to be difficult for many to sort through 40,000+ web hosts with such a wide varience of offerings and prices. Out of the 40,000+ web hosts less than 750 or so are full time professional web hosting companies.

It is very easy these days to rent a single cheap dedicated server and set up shop as a web host even if you know little about web hosting. You can usually tell these by their offerings (unlimited everything at budget prices!). Many are web developers who sell web hosting on their rented server to pay for their overhead. I have no problem with this practice but the danger is often overselling to the point that the service performance fails. The quality of their technical support is also a factor to consider. How long will this web host be in business? Over the past 8 years that I have personally been involved in the industry, I have seen numerous of these small shops fail. It is very wise to do your homework and research the companies as much as possible.

Best Wishes for a Net Success!

[ashish]

Hi all,

I think these are some of the things I would look for while choosing a web host:



Uptime
A web server should have a uptime of atleast 99.5% or more.

Data transfer
There is no such thing as 'unlimited' bandwidth, you can only have a certain amount of bandwidth alocated to you, if you go over that limit then you will definitely have to pay for it.

Technical Support
Only go for those hosts that offer prompt 24/7 all year round technical support.

Security
IF you are planning to perform business related activities on your web site, then security is a big issue, you should make sure that your host has got all the latest patches, and uses the latest security techniques & softwares.

Pricing
You get what you pay for, generally you should not chose a host on the consideration of the price alone, remember the cheapest or the most expensive does not mean the best.

[1PlanHost]

Here are some additional resources one can use to check the reliability and reputation of a web hosting company

Do a search for the company site on the following web sites and see what others have to say

1. http://www.hostsearch.com

2. http://www.webhostingtalk.com


Then check and see if they are listed at

http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/

From there you can check how many domains they are hosting and view the past weeks gains and losses. This will tell you if they are either gaining customers or are loosing customers to another host. You can also see how many domains they are putting on their servers and check that against what their site says. Many host unfortunately are not honest about this and do not realize that customers can indeed find that information out very easily. Beware host that overcrowd their servers by overselling and offering unlimited bandwidth, domains or disk space.

You can also do a spot check on reliability and uptime at
http://www.alertra.com

Best Wishes for a .Net Success!

[hostlander]

Additionally, don't work with the ones offering unlimited bandwidth and diskspace.

[peter phillips]

Compare the hosting company websites, their features, analyze their costs, read their content and then decide which one is the best hosting company for you. Comparison will help you to examine the features of hosting companies and enable you to select the one with the combination of best features and price.

Look for a company which offers a free trial, many hosting companies offer 30 days free trial offer or money back guarantee, you should utilize this service to judge their capability. In this way you will be able to gauge their server speeds, technical aspects, response time, staff attitude etc.

[Martie]

Look for a company which offers a free trial, many hosting companies offer 30 days free trial offer or money back guarantee, you should utilize this service to judge their capability. In this way you will be able to gauge their server speeds, technical aspects, response time, staff attitude etc.


I would surely agree to select a host that offers the money back guarantee.
When it comes to free trials though it is pretty risky from the host side of things. Too many spammers out there :D
Just be cautious.