anybody knows??

Two cans and a ball of string. ;)

Seriously, while price is clearly important, it's also true that often you get what you pay for. As such when you have clients screaming at you because thier site is down for hours or days, will you feel good that you went with the cheapest?

I agree. Just because someone offers the "cheapest" service, doesn't mean you will get anywhere with them. A lot of these companies who are promising $200 bucks for lifetime hosting usually abandon you after a month or two after they have cashed your check. Then you just spent $200 down the drain.

This could happen with your host. Frequent downtimes, lack of support, etc. You would be better off with a more moderate priced. If you are looking to get in on this business only if it's cheap, I'd recommend waiting a while until you can collect some more funds.

Hope this helps you. :)

You get what you pay for.....and so does the customer. So depending on the "QOS" Quality of Service desired, you'll find and pay a host for it.

Originally posted by hubwest
You get what you pay for...

Well, not always... lol. I've had some dreadful experiences with very expensive hosting operations.

Price doesn't always tell the whole story. It could be that some host is using automation and other cost-saving methods to lower their cost and still make profit even with the low price plans they offer.

Also, always remember to discount the "name brand" value some hosts add to their plans. Like name brand drugs are more expensive than generics...

I agree that a [relatively] higher price in and of itself doesn't prove better service than lower price. It's a natural reaction to go with the cheaper item when all you see is the $$$ and a list of features.

So do some research:

- Run a NetMechanic report on the hosts servers. See how they perform.

- Email the host's sales support. Ask questions and see if you get good knowledgable replies. A sales team that doesn't know the products they sell doesn't speak well for the company. Also see if they ask YOU questions about what type of site you're planning etc. If they don't take the time to find out your needs how can they help you choose the right server package?

- Email the host's tech support. Ask a technical question. See if they give you a correct and professional response. Also see how fast or slow they are to infact respond.

- Ask for client references and email the references. See what they say about the host.

There's more you can do but just trying to point out that finding a good host is more than just taking the cheapest offer.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Jaiem
Seriously, while price is clearly important, it's also true that often you get what you pay for. As such when you have clients screaming at you because thier site is down for hours or days, will you feel good that you went with the cheapest?

Agree with this completely. Just remember that choosing the right reseller host is crucial. You can't easily move 60 resold accounts around like you can with one account. If you are just looking for dirt cheap, and nothing else, you are going to be paying for it later (not in money :))

Look for one that can support you when you need it. If you get a support request from someone and it is 12 hours until you read it, then you have to email your upstream host, and they take 48 hours to respond, you could be looking at 3 day support response (for *your* customers).

I wouldn't pick the 'cheapest' host for one account, and likewise, the 'cheapest' host to resell for. I'd pick one that is dependable, offers good support, and is reasonably priced.

While price is an object, picking a host by price *alone* is like picking a doctor by price alone.

It's bad enough when your own site gets stuck with a host who doesn't perform either from incompetence, neglegence or fraud. When your clients are involved it can open you up to serious problems.

I agree with the suggestions about emailing a prospective host. If they don't answer a sales question in a reasonable amount of time (within 24 hours at the most), they surely won't answer your support questions after you sign up. Support is more important than price!

I have to say, this forum has provided me with more help in choosing a reselling host than all the host search/compare sites combined. (I finally chose one... HostingMatters. Annette, if you're reading this, I'll be in touch very shortly :) ) You'll find good, honest opinions here (and some that you'll have to sift through, too). A lot of the hosts post here...see who's helpful and knowledgeable. They way a person responds to questions can tell you a lot. It's not a definitive way of choosing a host, and should never take the place of real research, but it is a start.

Good luck to you!

At the risk of sounding like a recording, I agree - good support is worth everything! You may never need it but the one time you do you'll be glad.

Originally posted by Jaiem
Also see if they ask YOU questions about what type of site you're planning etc. If they don't take the time to find out your needs how can they help you choose the right server package?



I don't think that this is very good idea to, there are many cases when customer know what he wish, and asking much questions instead of giving answers may made customer fell pressed.

Originally posted by Jaiem
At the risk of sounding like a recording, I agree - good support is worth everything! You may never need it but the one time you do you'll be glad.


At the risk of sounding like a recording, I agree - good support is worth everything! You may never need it but the one time you do you'll be glad.

Originally posted by etLux
Originally posted by Jaiem
At the risk of sounding like a recording, I agree - good support is worth everything! You may never need it but the one time you do you'll be glad.


At the risk of sounding like a recording, I agree - good support is worth everything! You may never need it but the one time you do you'll be glad.


Lol EtLux :)

Well yea, its true. Price doesnt tell you everything, but it makes a person a lil more cautious. A cheap price, makes one wont to know how come its soo cheap?? A expensive one, makes you think, whats so special that they are charging me soo much more then the others. So price does tell you more, or maybe makes you wont to no more.

At the risk of sounding like a recording, I agree - good support is worth everything! You may never need it but the one time you do you'll be glad.

Bottom line, do research! ;)

while it is generally true that you get what you pay for..you do not necessarily get what you pay for...Have you heared of a good deal or god bargain. It is possible to pay far less and get far more. Afterall web hosting may just be over-priced...

Yannick Bandy
http://www.hosting24-7.com
Reseller Accounts Starting at $3.95/mo
No Set-up Fee, No Reseller Fee

yes and no...

there are such things as good deals.. but i think especially in webhosting (from the "good" hosts...) you do get what you pay for...

the cheap plans are great, and on a lot of hosts, you get great support... but i don't think (and please correct me if i'm wrong) that you get such options as RAID, or guaranteed maximum cpu usage...

that's basically what you're paying for when you go to the big kids, and it's worth it if you have mission critical sites...

Some existing hosts that start new companies, many hosts do this =), or want to offer different packages only brand it under a different name often lower there prices in the begining to help build a good repoire or following. Ussually what I do when making a sizeable or important purchase on the internet is make an attempt to contact the company I plan to deal with and rate them based on:

1) How easy is it to find the contact info?
2) Do I get to speak to someone personally or do I have to wait for an email response?
3) Once I reach someone do they seem interested and knowledgeable in my needs or am I just another # to them?

When comparing similar products these are the questions that really matter to me. Never disregard a service or product because it seems too cheap

I agree, most people tend to think that you pay for what you get...thats not always true. many companies charge way more than they deserve even though they resell for thesame company. If money is not your concern, then it boils down to two things, tech support and reliability.

Yannick
http://www.hosting24-7.com
Reseller Accounts Starting at $3.95
No Set-up fees, Free trial

One reason to be wary of dirt cheap hosts is you have wonder how they make money to afford good equipment, good network connections, good support help etc.

Assume a cetain host charges $7/mo. and they have 500 customers. That's only $3500/mo. Yea, as a reseller that sounds good. But as the company actually owning the servers, paying for the network connections, the software licenses, the hardware support contracts, the electricity, the telephone lines, the support people etc etc. that isn't a whole lot. Even if you double the customer base that still isn't a lot to run a large NOC facility.

I agree that eventually economies of scale come into play. That is, eventually when the customer bae rises to a certain point the host can lower plan costs and still keep the same service. But until then the numbers are tricky.

It`s funny to look at the replies and then what they offer :D I love this forum and it wouldn`t be so great if we were so damn objective! But seriously....these post aren`t very honest :)