I am in search of a new web hosting company. We are currently being hosted by Webhosting.com and after all I have read I dont think I want to re-up with them when my contract is up!
I have looked at PC magazine, which ranks Interland and Web2010 high. I have checked on Tophosts.com, where Webhosting.com, Host Pro, Verio, and Web2010 are ranked highest. Then I hear that Interland and Webhosting.com are horrible. Anyone have any suggestions as to which company I should go with? I am looking to launch a small business site that will require e-mail addresses and enough space to grow if needed.
Please help.
Thanks!

The problem with most (all?) of those ranking sites is that typically the ranks are determined more by the amount of ad revenue than by honest review. Check out http://www.hostcompare.com/discussandreview.htm for a decent list of places to look around. I would ignore the lists that offer rankings of hosts and look at the user reviews instead. In addition, look at the foums to see if hosts that are on your list also post to the boards. You can tell a lot by the way hosts respond to things (especially if they are responding to a complaint about their service), and then decide if they are the sort you would want to deal with should you experience a problem.

------------------
Annette
Hosting Matters, Inc.
http://www.hostmatters.com

Both thumbs up for tera-byte.com for me they are stable and very reliable and fast technical support.

Pebbles,
I use VeoWeb.net and am very happy with them, although I've only been with them a few months and don't use all the features yet...

I would also suggest searching this forum (and others) for good hosts.

I've been using pennyhost.com for 2 years and am extremely happy.

Below10host.com is highly recommended, as is Annette's place :)

Stay away from Interland: they were wrecked by the amount of traffic that PC Magazine article brought in, and you'll find nothing but complaints about their service now.

I'm currently happy with JRC-Hosting. http://www.jrc-hosting.com Dave at JRC-Hosting is very friendly and offer great support. If you decide to sign up, mention iRebound.com and you won't have to pay for set-up fee.
http://www.jrc-hosting.com/reviews.htm <-- to see the host ratings

------------------
Best Regards,
Scott Intarapanont
______________________
iModus - interactive methods (http://imodus.irebound.com/)
imodus.irebound.com (http://imodus.irebound.com/)

Determing what hosts are *good* and what are *bad* is a tough one. It all comes down to personal experiences and these may differ for a lot of reasons. What are expecting from a service being a major one of these reasons.

Personally I like fast and personal support that actually explains to you what is going on and why. I want to have a relationship with my host. A lot of ppl might not care about this as much as I do and that's fine. Just remember that there is no absolute truth when it comes to webhosts. I use www.dids.com (http://www.dids.com) for my hosting needs.

Some people get good experiences, others get bad ones, no compnay is flawless. Web hosting is very hit and miss... :(

Indi

Whether a company is "good" or "bad" can have as much to do with our expectations as with their actual performance. It also has to do with our willingness to take responsibility for our own mistakes.

Many hosting companies make it clear that all they do is host, that you are responsible for knowing what to do regarding transferring and administering of your files. Even so, many beginners expect to be taught what to do. Some have stated they were unhappy with companies that wouldn't take the time to do so.

Too many people won't take the time to open a book or manual and read, which is why no major software company still offers unlimited free support. They limit it to 30-90 days.

Expectations of control panel features, additional features (like mySQL, ASP support, etc.), toll free support, and many others account for how many people perceive a company. Charging fees for support is not popular with some. Perhaps the expectation of almost everything being free is too great.

This applies to dedicated servers as well as to shared servers (virtual hosting and virtual server accounts). Case in point: Dialtone Internet is one of those companies with an excellent reputation (and as one of their customers, I can assert it is well justified). A few weeks ago, somebody on scriptkeeper.com made a post that stated she thought she was being treated badly, charged over $1,000 for something she claimed was impossible for her to have done (binding IP addresses of several other servers to hers). Even before a response form the company, several people rose to their defense and said she must have done something wrong. The response form their technical support head told a very different story. She didn't know what she was doing, screwed up big time, caused problems for a lot of people, and didn't like that she was expected to pay for her mistake in getting in over her head. Her rating of DI is likely to vary greatly from the norm. Even the best of companies can have detractors, no matter how well they operate and how responsive they are to their customers.

Let us not forget those people who want the world for free or next to nothing and then complain about their obligations, like banner ads and so forth.

For these and other reasons, there is no "best company". There are, however, companies that are best suited to our needs, expectations, level of knowledge, and what we are willing to pay.

[This message has been edited by Duster (edited 06-26-2000).]

Duster are you running for office? You pretty much hit it right on the head. :)

I've been hosted with ThinkHost (http://www.thinkhost.com) for a few months now while I'm developing my new site. I've had nothing but fantasic experiences there :)

The support is lighting-fast, and the support rep is always more than happy to help. When I requested DNS changes to my account, I made a few errors and ended up sending several more emails than should have been required. Through the whole thing the support guy was there, sorting out my problem :)

They've told me their control panel will be tested soon, and the members should be able to use it fairly soon as well. They don't have ASP however, that's a problem for some people, not me personally though.

Hope that's helpful :)

-Chuck

I agree with Duster.

One thing I might add is that when surfing through these forums, remember that one bad experience from a customer doesn't mean the whole company is bad.

How many times have you heard someone say, "I had a bad experience with Wal-Mart" does that mean that Wal-Mart is a bad company? Do you still shop there?

Remember that there are two sides to every coin. Obviously if there are 15 people complaining about a hosting company, you may want to avoid them (I don't have that many coins in my pocket). On the same token, just because you see a couple of good comments about a host, that doesn't make them the best company.

Use your best judgement. Send your new potential host(s) LOTS of e-mails asking questions and see how long it takes for them to reply. Duster and I got into a conversation about price vs. support and while we had our differences, we both agreed that support should be a priority and price should be secondary. Remember that you get what you pay for.



------------------
Mike Astin
WebAuthorities
sales@webauthorities.com

Another thing too, and a big one, is how long someone has been with a company before they comment on it. While there are some companies that are terrible from the very start, it can take longer for problems with others to show up.

I had a (virtual) server 2 account with AIT (aitcom.net) a couple of years ago. Their billing was screwy from the start (and others have reported similar problems) but things were okay for awhile. It wasn't until months later taht I found out how bad they were.

When I read even positive comments from somebody who has been with their host a short while, it means little. Those comments are almost worthless. People who have had more experience with their hosts, several months or a year or longer, have much more substance.

I would suggest an FAQ for this forum and others where it is suggested that people state how long they have been with a host along with their other comments.

Our needs in hosting differ, just as they do in automobiles and many other things. There are lots of steps to be taken in choosing the right one for one's needs. Those needs will be different for each of us, though there will be others who are looking for something similar to what we need.

You are right...I was with TrueHosting before they moved to Alabanza. Their server was fast, the deal was great, support was okay. Not until a couple of months past by, I started to notice my site has started to go down for periods of time. Then I had an incident where I couldn't create a email account with a "jeremy" user name. So I emailed them asking very nicely, after awhile, they threathened me about canceling my account and delete my domain name.

Now that I've done some research. I moved to JRC-Hosting after TH sold their clients to BurstNET. I've been with them for almost 2 months now and I'm very happy with their service.

------------------
Best Regards,
Scott Intarapanont
______________________
iModus - interactive methods (http://imodus.irebound.com/)
www.imodusweb.com (http://www.imodusweb.com/)

Scott,

Don't even mention TH around here - you'll start another 100-post thread here again! :D

Amen to that, BC. It's only been recently that discussions of "that company" haven;t been in the top 5.

We could call it the undead host as is no longer alive, yet won't seem to die either. :-D

And thank gawd for that too..

The undead host? Hmmm... Interesting concept. I like it...

Thumbs up for HostMatters.com, I opened my personal account with them, very cool!

oopsie... I won't mention another word about what's it's name again. :o

------------------
Best Regards,
Scott Intarapanont
______________________
iModus - interactive methods (http://imodus.irebound.com/)
www.imodusweb.com (http://www.imodusweb.com/)

[This message has been edited by iRebound (edited 06-28-2000).]

Originally posted by BC:
Scott,

Don't even mention TH around here - you'll start another 100-post thread here again! :D

oopsie... I don't mention another word about what's it's name again. :o

------------------
Best Regards,
Scott Intarapanont
______________________
iModus - interactive methods (http://imodus.irebound.com/)
www.imodusweb.com (http://www.imodusweb.com/)

Originally posted by Duster:
When I read even positive comments from somebody who has been with their host a short while, it means little. Those comments are almost worthless. People who have had more experience with their hosts, several months or a year or longer, have much more substance.

I agree, and thanks for putting the "almost" before worthless. :) Having been in these forums for a short while, I have learned this important fact. The ones that really irritate me are when someone says I just signed up with so-and-so and they are the best hosting company around. Everyone is the best around after only the first couple hours!
So, when I post about my experiences with my current host, I have been trying to state that I haven't been with them very long (2 months so far), and I don't use all the amenities yet. I am very happy so far where I'm at now, and I feel like they are and have been extremely responsive over the last 3-4 months. I like the fact they have multiple ways to contact them for general or support questions, and they do monitor all of them (what seems like) all the time. Very few companies go this far. That is why I toot their horn when I can. They don't give me the impression they are a fly by night scam, but rather a small company (maybe 3-5 people right now) trying to make an honest buck.

With all the negativity, scams, and crooks out there, I feel it's important to recognise when someone is doing something right, so they can be rightfully rewarded.

I'm not disagreeing with Duster's comments (I almost always agree with them), I agree that length of service is directly proportional to the weight of the review. For their benefit, I wish I could say I had been with my current hosting company for a year or more, but that will have to wait until next year. :)

Sorry for the rambling on, and thanks for reading.

Sure would be nice if there was a different designation in these forums for people like Duster, Annette, and some others, so people could readily see they are vetrans in this area and have quite a bit of wisdom to empart on us. ("Full member" doesn't do that for me, as it just means that person has lots of posts.)

Oops, sorry, more rambling.
I'm stopping now, no, really, I am this time! :)


------------------
tk
------
Whoops! There goes another $.02!

I agree with Duster on length, though many hosts don't get past this! For some hosts, setting up the account correctly seems to be an issue, and thus even recent positive signups deserve *some* merit.

I think we've all read the, "They took 2 weeks to set up my account" posts. Uggghh.

Chicken,

Please read the second sentence I wrote above, about some companies being terrible from the very start. It is implied that comments on such companies have merit. After all, many people wouldn't stick with them for long if they start off bad.

It is about other companies, the ones that seem okay at the beginning, where the length of service has a bearing on any review about them. tk caught the distinction made by use of the word "almost". I don't consider it a subtle one. In this instance, it merely indicates positive comments that lack the substance of time and a track record. Early positive signs can be good, but lack the test of tiume.

If a satisfactory level of service and support is characteristic of the company, comments made by those with several months experience will confirm it and weigh more heavily in their favor.

I really appreciate everyone's comments and reviews. I agree with Duster's point that people should indicate how long they've been using their service. Along that line, I'd like to ask that when people say they like their service please also tell us *why* you like it... what good experience did you have or what bad experience did you not have? Those additions would make your comments much more valuable! Thanks, JSW