What's the most important thing you look for when choosing a new host?

I know you might want to choose more than one... but just narrow it down to the #1 thing overall or the thing that potentially means the most to you above everything else when making the decision to go with them or not.

I’ve tried to break it down into quite a few factors – so it should be quite interesting to see the results from this.

If your option isn't listed, please and make a post to explain what it is...

Excellent poll.

Well done.

Cheers
Jeff

[edited for spelling]

Solid reputation is key, but I would combine it with tech support as well. There really is no one true factor no matter how much you break it down.

I'd say good reputation just because the other things usually go along with it.

<disclaimer>
The following isn't meant as any sort of attack against specific hosting companies or resellers, nor to besmirch the reputation or question the integrity of any given high-school student. The opinions and ideas expressed therein do not in any way represent anything other than a bunch of cynical bitterness towards hosts that have shafted me in the past or made recent offers in these forums to shaft me in the near future. I am in no way questioning the ethics, abilities, or intelligence of the hordes if illiterate would-be hosts from New York, Florida, and California who barely understand English and don't realize it. No warranty is expressed or implied. Use at your own risk. I guarantee that whatever you may think, this post is not about you. Void where prohibited. All rights reserved. Marca registrada. Hand-wash, no bleach. Don't flame me.
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I've been burned too many times by kiddies and rednecks who incorrectly believe that having made it to the ninth grade in school is an adequate qualification for running a webhosting business. As a result, I'm developing an eye for identifying and avoiding "3l33t h0st1ng" kids and fly-by-night outfits.

An absence of spelling/grammar errors is key. If someone can't be bothered to check the spelling on their company's home page, or their post on WHT, what are the odds they're going to check the spelling in their crontab, or resolv.rc? That weeds out a lot of script-kiddies with reseller accounts, and helps avoid the dreaded "i dont unerstand ur qestion, cn u plz rerite it?" response to support tickets. IMHO, If you can't capitalize appropriately, try making money via affiliate scams and get away from the hosting business.

I look for an absence of flash animation, background muzak, etc. It just isn't professional (to me, anyway).

Never do business with a company whose site is broken and links don't work. Again, if you can't keep your own twelve-page site running, why should I assume you know how to keep a server running?

Those are key.

Beyond that, I look for companies that own or lease their own equipment, because I'm getting really tired of asking simple questions ("Why was my site unavailable for eighteen hours?") and getting clueless answers ("I don't know, I'll have to ask the company that I resell for"). After that it comes down to reputation, network speed, hardware specifications, features offered, and price...