Yes, this is a question to all the general web hosting customers out there....

Give atleast 2 reasons....

Better Bandwith and More Space

A "we are always right" attitude
Crap control panel

A "we are always right" attitude

I guess i didn't understand what you meant by this? Can you elaborate it a little more?


:)

BLACKJACK...annnnnnnnnnnnnd HOOKERS! Come to think of it, I was never really interested in the blackjack! :) j/k

Seriously, I would say my two biggest reasons for switching hosts at any time would be price and trust. Trust to me is established by a few things, such as a money-back guarantee (very big) and my testing of the support system for a host. If I'm with a new host, first I'll test them before I buy by asking them a question such as how to set up a database DSN or something of that nature and timing the reply: then after, I'll ask them a question related to my account (what my FTP login and address are) and time the reply.

Different Timezone.

I always had to wait until the middle of the night to get a responce :(

Originally posted by ForumsAddict


I guess i didn't understand what you meant by this? Can you elaborate it a little more?


:)

Can't elaborate, lets just say when I list only one phone number on my site and I screw up an account setup I wouldn't think of scolding my customer for calling the number. And then spend the day aguing why the 'Help Desk" system is the one true way to get support.

If I'm with a new host, first I'll test them before I buy by asking them a question such as how to set up a database DSN or something of that nature and timing the reply: then after, I'll ask them a question related to my account (what my FTP login and address are) and time the reply.

Thats Good!

While I am a host rather than a customer. I will report on what my customers tell me.

I often am told by some of my customers that they are moving because "I was happy with my old host" I just couldn't afford more bandwidth.

While I appreciate the new business, it is disappointing that price is one of the primary decision factors used for selecting and moving to a new host. It is my opinion that support is much more important. Atleast it was to me when I was selecting hosting providers years ago before I started in the webhosting business.

1. better support
2. faster support

I dumped OCHosting because I finally got fed up with their BS.

Really, what prompted the action is that my (shared) server HD failed, and they were unable to restore from any backup more recently than six weeks old. We lost all of our email, our website was down for a full day, and OCHosting did NOTHING to help.

I can't rely on them to give me proper service, so they're gone.

I switched my host because....I didn't. :stickout

Well, actually I used to host with WestHost, however I am now a reseller. :D In fact, I never had any problems with WestHost. They were fine...just I had no use for a shared hosting account after a year or so.

i'm looking at switching hosts for two reasons..

1) while my current host has bentover backwards to help me, there are some issues that they have tried to correct that still don't work after months of effort.

2) my needs have gone beyond the scope of what they can provide me.

hope that helps.

Previous host had fast but generic support, their support team couldn't resolve or understand the issues.

Another reason was I found a better host with better pricing and features.

[i]first I'll test them before I buy by asking them a question such as how to set up a database DSN or something of that nature and timing the reply. [/B]

? most host dont know anything about programming databases -- tech support will be in reference to the hosting account itself not how your going to use them ==thats like asking a host how would i make a cgi script

Uptime
Support

Most users switch because lack of support.

Always try to contact your new hosting company before you host with them.

If they do not have a contact phone number. Or if they have, but never pick up the phone. I would presonally stay away from them.

Originally posted by **********


? most host dont know anything about programming databases -- tech support will be in reference to the hosting account itself not how your going to use them ==thats like asking a host how would i make a cgi script

Okay, let me try this again...what I was trying to get at is how to use their control panel to perform a specific task. Adding a system DSN was the example of such a task. I wasn't actually asking the host to help me with any programming issues or anything like that. It was just for illustration purposes.

Maybe migrating from free to paid hosting.

- Getting rid of banners
- mysql and php
- cgi forums are not allowed in some hosts.

Ok i moved hosts earlier due to lack of good performance of mulitple access databases at readyhosting. then i went to flarehosting guys. .. i moved from there because they were so picky about giving permissions to certain directories and apparently seemed like they dont know much about tech stuff.

atlast i moved to reddi-web.com because i trusted this guy.. i had been using snitz forum for more than a year and this admin over there used to help me for free in bugs inside forum software even before i was his customer. .. and now he gave me a customized plan.. with features what i need , more of it and a bit lesser price. and can u believe it, 18 hours of support ! on time...... except when he wants to sleep a bit more :)

i say you guyz should all give reddi-web.com a try :)

I Wont switch cause Hostonce is the best host i could ever have... LoL hahahaah :eek: :eek:

It depends on when you asked me that question.

There are difference reasons at different time of my needs :-

1) Lower cost with better support
2) Bigger bandwidth
3) Better control of server
4) My requirements outgrowth what is provided
5) Features not supported by current host.

When I first started requiring web hosting, I just got on to the first which did not allowed me to have my own domain name. Thus the move to a new host. Then after a while, traffic increased and I got booted out of one of those 'unlimited' bandwidth web hosters. *ouch*.

There is when I got one with a bigger bandwidth capped. Then I needed to do some programming on Windows and thus moved to a Windows environment. Supported wasn't good and thus the move.

Then there was the time when business was doing badly and thought to conserve finances and moved to a cheaper host. Spread my sites across several difference host because of the earlier fear that if the host goes down, I lose everything. Uptime was important.

Grew too huge in terms of bandwidth which almost reaches the bandwidth limit and thus decided to consolidate all my sites and move them to a dedicated server.

Of course, there were a lot of good and bad experiences along the way. Guess it was a good learning experience too.

I left my old host because I could never get a hold of them! It was so frustrating waiting longer than 24 hours for a response to an emergency.

Another reason was their lack of communication. They would do so called scheduled server maintenance work which would affect my site, without first telling me!

I'm now with hostworkz.com and although I've only been with them for about 4 weeks, they are the exact opposite to my old host. Very happy with them so far and I can actually get a response from their support people, quickly!

So this for sure that lack of customer support is one of the biggest reasons for switching hosts.

So this raises a new question:

How do 1 person hosting companies survive in this competition? How do they maintain the high level of support to their customers?

Originally posted by ForumsAddict


How do 1 person hosting companies survive in this competition? How do they maintain the high level of support to their customers?

I am a mere hosting customer and thus what I am going to say would probably not be bias in any sense.

Anyway, I believe that it is possible for a 1 person hosting company to survive in this business provided that the person knows his limits and also the limits of the hardware in question. Of course, technical knowledge and business skills are pretty much important here too.

Today, we are seeing prices of dedicated servers dropping to the double digit regions with far superior hardware and storage space. At the same time, connection speeds have increased while prices have gone down to a large extent. So to break-even may not be too much of an issue.

Usually business would start small and for one person, there may be certain personal sacrifices such as irregular salary and probably lost of personal time. But compared to a larger organization, you may have to consider other issues such as salary, rentals and other money factors.

Say for a single person, a monthly income of $500 may not be all that bad but how much more hostings you need to sell to say cover someone's else's salary of say $2000 or so. (not sure how much technical staff cost anyways).

Knowing your capacity and the hardware capacities would be important. Yup, granted you have a pair of hands and time you need to dedicate to family and personal issues. It is important not to oversell or else when things breaks down, you have a ton of trouble falling on your head.

Bringing small means that you could probably provide more personal service to your clients, knowing them intimately rather than just a number or ip address. ;) .

I guess when you know your limits, you will not try to take the big players by their horns but work on a smaller niche market. Probably targetting a certain sector.

Also being your own boss would give you the opportunity to set your own ground rules and pricing regulation. No need to come out with rigid price plans but being able to be flexible to react to change market needs. probably even to say provide custom pricing for certain good but needing customers.

Of course, being small means knowing your limits. By setting the maximum number you can handle and keeping to that. Of course, when things work out, you probably might want to expand and work from there.

In fact, I do get great support from the smaller players, usually single person running the show as compared to the bigger ones which may be passing the support ticket from one department to the next because it does not fall under their jurisdication or when the lines are blurred.

why did I change hosts ?
firstly from free to paid when I outgrew free
first paid host went bust not long after I signed up
next paid host took the $$$ and ran not long after I signed up

maybe I'm bad luck :D

ForumsAddict:

You may also want to try keeping your business local while you're establishing yourself. That way, you can pretty well ensure that you're not going to get 2 AM support calls because it's 2 PM local time for your client. Get yourself maybe 30-40 accounts on a server and grow it from there.

I used to host with WestHost, and had no complaints about them at all. The offered stellar email support and have just recently began telephone support via 1-800 number. They are constantly doing upgrades and improving the service.

Unfortunatly, I found that their control panel, which seems to be quite outdated and developed in house, didn't really offer the control of my account that I needed. I still had to email support to create a new email address. They also didn't allow subdomains, which I find handy. I also needed more space, and found the prices a bit too steep compaired to other hosting companies.

I moved over to hostpacket and now enjoy using Cpanel4 to do anything I need to do with my account. Unlimited subdomains, multiple domain hosting, more space, more bandwidth, for a considerably lower price.

I'm a student and I need to watch what I pay for. If I had the cash I would have stuck with WestHost because they have great support and would no doubt upgrade the control panel and hosting features in the future, but alas, too much $$$ for my budget.

You may also want to try keeping your business local while you're establishing yourself. That way, you can pretty well ensure that you're not going to get 2 AM support calls because it's 2 PM local time for your client. Get yourself maybe 30-40 accounts on a server and grow it from there.

Thank You TheGAME1264 for your kind advice.

I had been working in a local hosting company for about 8 months serving as a technical support assistant. Now i am just completing my university, but am planning to setup an independent web hosting forum like WHT in the near future. :D

I had been working in a local hosting company for about 8 months serving as a technical support assistant. Now i am just completing my university, but am planning to setup an independent web hosting forum like WHT in the near future.

i did support for a webhosting company before. quite rewarding, learned a lot. that's how i got into all of this. I wouldn't mind reselling in the future.

i win! uhhh... okay bye.

i win! uhhh

:D :D :D sure...

my old host was always down and sometimes when i email their support i get an email back saying "we do no provide support on your issue" i get this message even for simple help requests suchs as "why doesn't my website work AGAIN!!!!!"

:stickout

my old host was always down and sometimes when i email their support i get an email back saying "we do no provide support on your issue" i get this message even for simple help requests suchs as "why doesn't my website work AGAIN!!!!!"

Would you let WHT members know of this strange host so that we are aware of it.

Speed, Uptime, and Price

My first hot was valueweb. I left them because of uptime, my site was constantly down. About a total of 2 hours a day in 10 minute periods. They were aware of this but said instead of switching me to another server, they were going to try to fix the problem. The problem was ongoing for over a week so I got my money back for the uptime issue and found another host.

My next host was liquidweb. I have nothing bad to say about them in the 6-7 months I was with them as far as uptime, support, prices etc... The reason I left was a support issue but not in the way of it not being there, it was a misunderstanding that just took up too much time, and led me to looking into another host then I found one which had better deals and features then they did.

Big-Mike
very interesting story :)

Originally posted by **********


? most host dont know anything about programming databases -- tech support will be in reference to the hosting account itself not how your going to use them ==thats like asking a host how would i make a cgi script

Really? You could still ask the host how to setup a DSN in the control panel.

I'm about to leave my current host. I've had a few problems with them before, but what pushed me over the edge was packing up and moving my site onto another server at another friggin datacenter, with quite a bit of downtime, without bothering to tell me or to reply to my support request asking WTF was going on.

Originally posted by ForumsAddict
So this for sure that lack of customer support is one of the biggest reasons for switching hosts.

So this raises a new question:

How do 1 person hosting companies survive in this competition? How do they maintain the high level of support to their customers?

customer support may be one of the biggest reasons why people switch hosts, but it isn't the only reason. 1 person hosting companies can survive because they provide the more personal touch than what the bigger hosts generally provide. many people like this. it really depends on your needs.

Why did I leave my old host?

Well, to put it simply, because they (in this case referring to APhosting/Xism) left as well...

I needed more file-space (20 Giga) for a low price. Bad support from the last provider, they left me 3 days without my site, when I could only allow a 1 hour downline. :bawling: Another provider left me 2 days down cause I use "Too much" bandwidth, and I didn't use THAT much. They should charged me first, asked me first, not put DOWN FIRST. :rolleyes: The fee was 90U$, is not that high...

Today I'm with HostPacket.net, they have cheap web-space, and they will allways ask me first about bandwidth upgrades. :D So far theyre support is GREAT!

Regards, WilliamK

Pretty interesting stories coming up....love them..:D

Yeah, nothing like sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows, singing songs, telling horror stories about bad web hosts.

"And one time in band camp, I shoved a flute up my..." :D

I've left hosts because of:
1) BAD SUPPORT ( no responses, responses that took over 24 hours, incompetent personnel who could resolve problems with SSL, etc.)
2) MISLED or LIED TO (find out I was lied to, or not made aware of a charge until AFTER I signed up.
3) Slow Connections
4) Too much Down Time
5) Bad Attitude
6) Ignorant in Security

(note: not necessarily in that order)