How do you choose a webhost?

[Will]

Unfortunately the webhosts that I've used so far have ranged from severely deficient to grudgingly-stay-with-them-because-I-don't-know-any-better.
 
I wouldn't mind paying double what I pay now if I knew that...
 
- my sites would be up 99.9% of the time
- the help desk isn't populated by surly, pimply teens
- customers are informed promptly and intelligibly when important changes happen
 
Does anyone have any ideas?   Your recommendations appreciated...

[Business Brian]

Price is often one of the surest indicators, and I absolutely never buy with webhosts simply for being cheap. Because the tired old mantra of the industry is that you absolutely get what you are paying for. If someone is charging peanuts for gigabytes, it should be clear warning that the plans offered are not sustainable in the long-term - and that mean no long-term future for your website there.
 
 Anyway, why not check down this board? I've tried to offer reviews for various webhosts I've used. See if those are helpful.

[LHall]

I was sent these links from a web design lecturer at my uni a couple of days after setting up hosting with Namesco. According to Review Centre I have made the wrong choice, so shame I didn't see it before - oh well!

http://www.reviewcentre.com/products100.html

http://netmag.co.uk/hosting/default.shtml

[Business Brian]

I don't know namesco - but I certainly never trust review sites when it comes to hosting.

[RoryErickson]

Choosing a webhosting provider can be quite difficult.  But who you should go with should very much depend on what you're looking for.  Both resource-wise and how much support you feel you will require.


You should very much look at the price you will be paying, if it's to low-cost for what they are offering you may want to question the webhosting providers business model and its ability to sustain itself.  Some resources that should esspecially looked at are the amount of traffic and the amount of space alloted.

Traffic-wise a good rule of thumb is they should at 'minimum' charging $2.00 per Gigabyte for included traffic and $3.00 per Gigabyte for extra usage traffic.  -- If it's more then this, they aren't necessarily ripping you off as providers adjust this depending on their expenses, both equipment and staffing.

From a storage space point of view I find it a good idea to make sure the provider is not critically over-selling their hard-drive space.  It's a common practice in todays highly competitive website hosting marketing to oversell diskspace in hopes that clients will never actually use what is alloted to them.  Many cases this may pan out, but there are many times this does not pan out and causes much headache to everyone involved.  Myself, I've never found it a good practice to do overselling, especially with storage being so low-cost these days.. What is another 73GB SCSI harddrive these days? Maybe $600 Canadian...

A good idea is to browse Google to find any comments on the provider, both good and bad.  Another good place to look is http://www.webhostingtalk.com, even though you will generally not see any 'Good' comments on providers here unless the person in question is getting something from the provider for free it seems.

All in all, unfortunately choosing a provider sometimes can be a hit or miss.  Normally however, If you make sure you aren't paying extremely low prices for large packages you will have your best bet of getting a provider that is responsible to their clients and has a business model that has a future.


Good luck,

Rory Erickson
rerickson@kixmedia.ca

[Business Brian]

A good post, Rory, and welcome to business-talk.
 
 I've certainly used WHT a lot - got around 1400 posts there - but generally it's a good place to at least get a perception of a company - provided it's mentioned. I never trust recommendations from low post count posters, as it's too easy to set up affiliate IDs that way. A hosting business that has proved itself in the eyes of hosting peers will generally get good comment from them.

[surfbusiness]

[link removed]
 
 I use cPanel and you can also install web applications (php-nuke or oscommerce or phpbb2 forum) in a few clicks without or little programming effort. See the set of fantastico demos provided. :rolleyes:

[Business Brian]

I don;t mind people lnking to real resources no their own websites - but smiply linking out to promote own services tends to be a no-no on most moderated forums.
 
 I really should get around to setting up some form of AUP here, and sooner rather than later.