when i first registered at datastream usa.. i thought they would have good service and everything would be fine. but obviously.. i didn't pay attention to the small things

do NOT go for hosts that offer:
Unlimited Space
Unlimited Bandwidth
.. or unlimited anything

there is not such thing as those unlimited offers.. so don't bother

whenever you see a potential host.. always make sure they have a phone number that you can contact them with. if it's only emails.. then that means their company is probably not that big and can run at any second.

always try to get reviews on a host.. or read recommendations from other sites that use that host. also.. look around on that site to see if they have scripts that you want to use.

and lastly.. if there is anything like a missing page or an error on their site.. that is a definite sign that they are sloppy or inconsistent.

these are the things you should look for.. and the things i learned the hard way. :bawling:

hope ppl looking for hosts will find this guide helpful.......

Yep, very good guide. I will say that web masters do make mistakes and if you see a dead link (one-ish) then letting them know about it (even if you don't sign up) would be appreciated. There are also large-ish sized hosts here on the forum that don't post phone numbers, mainly becuase it is difficult to support phone calls and more costly (toll-free). Not always the sign of a bad host if they don't have it, but certainly they should take care of your email inquiries promptly.

agreed on all points except for the phone number thing
what is the use of providing a phone number in New Zealand(for example) when the majority of your customers are in the USA?
Prompt email support in many cases can be far better...
in the 3 years or so ive had paid hosting, i have never used a phone number, while email support has been my main form of contact by far

I disagree with a host being bad because they use the term "unlimited". If they say "unlimited bandwidth" I agree to stay away, but other uses of the word "unlimited" are valid and not untruthful.

I don't agree with the phone statement either. As stated, phone calls are very expensive to webhosts. They also waste alot of time. Many people will keep you on the phone 30 minutes or more with unrelated chit-chat, where the problem could be answered more concisely and quicker by email.

Other suggestions...

1. Always check out the tech support with a couple of pre-sales questions before signing up. Try at different times.

2. If online chat support is important to you, check it out because on most hosts' sites that offer this, they are offline more than they are online, or too busy and a long wait.

3. Check their record through search engines.

4. Check their uptime.

5. Don't put too much weight on reviews, as most all webhosting review forums are biased, and you can *always* expect someone not to like a host.

6. Ping them and check their response time.

7. Do a traceroute to check connections.

8. Examine every aspect of their site. Is it well designed? Do they have a thorough FAQ and other documentation? How did they answer your pre-sales support question? Were they too brief? Did they understand the question?... etc. Often, a combination of these things will clue you in as to what type of host you'll be dealing with.

9. If they do have phone support, call it *before* signing up. That way you find out if it's a working phone number and how long you have to wait for phone support.

10. Make sure the host is located in your country. If the host does something illegal to you, it's difficult to impossible, to go after a host legally if they are in another country.

11. If they use an unsecure page for ordering, don't use that host.

12. Check out the host's order page.
If the host uses a shared SSL, PayPal, 2Checkout, etc., there's a good chance that they are a mom-and-pop operation.

yes I am new to this whole webhosting thing; I have just signed up in order to only host a personal site with friends and also promoting our dj'ing to a wider geographical audience.

I agree and disagree with the phone thing. If a company doesnt have it it by no means suggests they give poor service. however if they do have it and it lives up to what they tell you it is a great reassurance.

I didnt have any webhosting experience so i did about 30 hours of research online to find a host and I honed my choices down to Webaxxs.net (OLM) or Site5.com

OLM had 24hr support and the first time i called them at 3am to just ask some presales questions they were there. I called them 2 more times over sunday afternoon. they were there. and answered my questions curteously and fast. i liked that. i am not a very web-technical person who is just starting to learn and in the process being able to speak to a live person makes it easier.

site5 offered only email support but even just for my presales questions they answered them right away and from what i have seen from all my research into finding a webhost site5 seems to be a very good company. if you are a more technically expertised person getting a quick email back is more than enough cause you know to do or understand all the technical things in the emails no problem.

in the end i went with webaxxs (olm) somewhat because of the phone support andbecause for the same price i got 500mb storage as opposed to 200mb and i need to put on my site various 60min. long MP3 dj sets. as well as using about 20pop addresses at a 5mb limit each for a number of people. site5 does seem to offer some more options on there plans standard than olm like quicktime and WMedia streaming and a few other goodies.

Originally posted by chrisb

12. Check out the host's order page.
If the host uses a shared SSL, PayPal, 2Checkout, etc., there's a good chance that they are a mom-and-pop operation.


Whoa. Wait a sec. :)

We have our own real merchant account - BUT we also offer PayPal as an alternative. Alot of people don't trust a company that they've never dealt with and would rather pay via PayPal. I'd say that if PayPal was the ONLY credit card payment option, you might want to reconsider. But, merely offering PayPal as a payment method is not a good reason to walk away from a potential host.

Also, we have just signed up with 2checkout for Discover and AmEx payments only. We use our real merchant account for Visa and MasterCard but, as most host know, Discover and AmEx charge higher rates and make you jump through hoops before they will allow you to accept those through your merchant account. For me, it was just easier, not any more expensive and less hassle to signup with 2checkout for Discover/AmEx. 2checkout is also going to offer online check payment this week...another bonus that was hard to turn down.

PS: I wouldn't consider us a mom and pop operation. :D

--Tina

Originally posted by chrisb
[B]I disagree with a host being bad because they use the term "unlimited". If they say "unlimited bandwidth" I agree to stay away, but other uses of the word "unlimited" are valid and not untruthful.


I can't think of a valid use for the word 'unlimited' in relation to a hosting company.

(Unlimited grief, perhaps :) )

I will give one piece of advice to all web hosting customers. Get to know the host - email him/her, chat, spend quite some time with them before signing up

Set upfront expectations - tell them this is what you are planning to do with your site and ask them for various ideas; after all hosts would be able to consult much better since they are always doing it

And sign-up only if you are comfortable with the contact person

If the host is honest and cares for your business it will come through in discussions.. if they are just pushing you to a plan you dont want, or hustling you to sign-up then move out

This is not a scientific way of evaluating a vendor but it has worked very well for me and also for over 40 of my clients

Cheers
Balaji

BTW, I use only paypal & 2checkout and I am not a mom and pop shop - just a pop shop! :D

The Mom just vindicates the wisdom that behind every successful man there is a woman telling him he is wrong!

Cheers
Balaji

Oops! I should've qualified that statement to say "If the host ONLY offers something like Paypal..."

Regards,
chrisb

Originally posted by MotleyFool
[B]I will give one piece of advice to all web hosting customers. Get to know the host - email him/her, chat, spend quite some time with them before signing up... Balaji

No, no. Don't do this. Do you think a host has this much time for each client? I'll admit I've wasted a couple host's time chit-chatting about nothing for 30-45 mins, but I now understand that was not right. Further, I would not want a host that shoots the breeze with their customers too much. I assure you if they do this with too many clients, they are either letting other important hosting matters (clients, improvements, server maintenance, etc.) wait OR they have no business... either way they don't sound like a good host.

I think that seeing the word unlimited come up once in a webhosting plan, even offering unlimited emails, makes the company distrustful and unworthy of your business.
If a company offered unlimited emails, I can have a free web based email site and setup 2,000,000 email accounts for people?

Originally posted by iamdave
I think that seeing the word unlimited come up once in a webhosting plan, even offering unlimited emails, makes the company distrustful and unworthy of your business.
If a company offered unlimited emails, I can have a free web based email site and setup 2,000,000 email accounts for people?

Good point. I was wrong. Let's see now... bandwidth can't be "unlimited"... email can't be "unlimited"... domains can't be "unlimited"... so is there anything that CAN be unlimited? I guess not.

It is possible to offer "Unlimited" when it comes to Email.

Addresses, Forwarders, Blocking, and basically anything related to Email services can be huge numbers. Unlimited may not be exactly correct, but when it comes to Email, the limitation is more on the individual than the Hosting company. If you really want to sit down and create "one, two, or three million Email addresses, forwarders, etc.", be my guest and have at it. :)

The fall-back position is, since anything to do with Email through your Hosting account will be using allocated Data Transfer, a person could have 70 million Email address. Once the monthly Data Transfer maximum is reached though, everything stops -- remember, Unlimited Data Transfer is a definite no-no.

True, but even if those emails weren't using alot of bandwidth, I don't think that if 50 people were on a server and each of those 50 created 1 million accounts, that the server could support it.

i agree. i just did research into hosters as a newbie. email was a factor since i needed at least 20 email accounts. every host i spoke to said email storage was related to your total disk space.

so some can say unlimited emails; but if you give out 2 million addies and have 100MB disk limit you couldnt do much with it so I dont think the host is too worried about you doing that. but i stayed away from anyone that said unlimited bandwith for traffic :)

every host i spoke to said email storage was related to your total disk space.
Which is absolutely correct, but a bit of hair splitting.

Allow me to amend my earlier statement, since I don't agree with unlimited POP3 Email Accounts either and would always make sure a specific number is provided. :)

Unlimited Autoresponders is again splitting hairs, because it is relative to the size and number of individual Autoresponder messages, creater by the account owner. Autoresponders and messages sent to Email addresses will take up Web space within the account. Ergo: since Web space is limited, these two features are also limited.

Email Forwarders/Blockers are usually one line of information within a specific file -- which also uses Web space within the Hosting account. Many hundreds of thousands (or more) lines of information can be included in these type files -- but still limited to Web space allocated for the Hosting account. Ergo: since Web Space is limited, these two features are limited also.

Email Autoresponders/Forwarders/Blockers are limited by both; Web space and Data Transfer provided within the Hosting account. They are more limited though, by the "account owner" themselves.

This is similar to "Unlimited Coffee Refills" offered by all kinds of places -- regardless of whether they are open 24/7 or not. The expectation is that common sense will kick in and/or hopefully the person has a life and will need to get back to it soon. In dealing with a "resource" such as Web Hosting, the same mentality does not always apply.

Just goes show, be prepared to always learn something new in the Web Hosting business. Sigh...

Originally posted by Website Rob

Which is absolutely correct, but a bit of hair splitting.

Allow me to amend my earlier statement, since I don't agree with unlimited POP3 Email Accounts either and would always make sure a specific number is provided. :)

Unlimited Autoresponders is again splitting hairs, because it is relative to the size and number of individual Autoresponder messages, creater by the account owner. Autoresponders and messages sent to Email addresses will take up Web space within the account. Ergo: since Web space is limited, these two features are also limited.

Email Forwarders/Blockers are usually one line of information within a specific file -- which also uses Web space within the Hosting account. Many hundreds of thousands (or more) lines of information can be included in these type files -- but still limited to Web space allocated for the Hosting account. Ergo: since Web Space is limited, these two features are limited also.

Email Autoresponders/Forwarders/Blockers are limited by both; Web space and Data Transfer provided within the Hosting account. They are more limited though, by the "account owner" themselves.

This is similar to "Unlimited Coffee Refills" offered by all kinds of places -- regardless of whether they are open 24/7 or not. The expectation is that common sense will kick in and/or hopefully the person has a life and will need to get back to it soon. In dealing with a "resource" such as Web Hosting, the same mentality does not always apply.

Just goes show, be prepared to always learn something new in the Web Hosting business. Sigh... Very well said...

12. Check out the host's order page.
If the host uses a shared SSL, PayPal, 2Checkout, etc., there's a good chance that they are a mom-and-pop operation.


Actually, I prefer hosts to have a 3rd party biller. You know why?

There are times when reason escapes me and I sign up for a too-good-to-be-true host despite what common sense tells me. And when common sense starts to gloat because of problems, I get my card cancelled easily because I don't have to deal with the host anymore.

It is especially important to me when I ask for a host to cancel my order due to services unrendered. LIke say... Host#1 does not respond to my emails and they've never setup my account even though they have billed me (YES, it happened!). I went straight to the 3rd party biller and voila!


Oh...people remember me from the Tacid hosting incident/scandal that errupted here at WHT a year ago. Tacid's third party biller helped me get my refunds back.


Oh yeah... my advice: If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

hm.. but i guess i would understand why hosts would offer unlimited. because they don't think a person would really exceed a certain amount if they are small businesses or personal sites. and maybe they don't want to go through the trouble of dividing up the space and setting a limit?

and someone said that if a host is too good to be true.. then it probably isn't. but well.. what if that host is just really nice? :D

but yeah. i understand what you mean. it's just that maybe there *are* some decent people out there who keeps their word and takes the time to give good customer service.

and i read over the posts.. and what i first said about no phone numbers, i now understand why some companies wouldn't have it. but fast replies on emails is a definite plus.

though i don't know... at first, datastream had been extremely prompt on the emails before i signed up.. and a week after i did. but after that, everything went downhill and i received zero replies even after sending tremendous amounts of email. some companies know that this is what potential customers look for - service. but once they lure you in, and you sign up, then i think it's super easy for them to just forget about you.

*sigh*..

I am sorry I am a few months late on a reply to this post, but for our first year of business we really did offer unlimited space and bw. Right now we pushed away from that, it really wasnt because it was unlimited, but most of the people who signed up had non working credit cards, meaning, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. Also for payment, paypal is a good option for anyone, some people can only use paypal because their credit card doesnt work in the USA>...

Sorry for the almost 1 year late reply :) But I found a new search option so it is pulling all of these posts :)

Oooh thread resurrection. Let me dig up all the threads on HostNexus. :rolleyes:

tips:



* You may opt to not go with a company that has been open for less than 'X' months (you decide what you're comfortable with)




*If their site has forums that customer's post on, read them, if I had read hostpacket.net's forums before signing up, I would never have become a customer.

yeah. just looking now, unitedhosting.co.uk's forums are quite a nice, assuring read :)

The forum is a good point. My host has a forum, and I spent some time there before signing up. I pay monthly, but will soon switch to yearly, after trying them for about 6 months or so.