Just wondering how everyone chose their host? What are some key points that you look for?
There are so darn many out there, good deals, not so good, bad deals, and rip offs and too good to be true.

Another questions, how many times have you changed your host?

Thanks for your input.....will be interesting to see what everyone has to say :)

I chose mine(ehostpros.com) by doing alot of reading in multible forums, and testing different hosts for reply time by sending them 3-5 questions, some never replied, some took 2-3 weeks, some took days, a few did it in minutes, also I checked if they were "real" companies and if they had their own forums I would also read those to see what their own customers were saying.
Among other things I'm sure I'm not thinking of right now.

There is actually a HOW-TO floating around on this board on how to pick a host. The author, who happens to also post on this forum, has it in his signature. I forget his name but just trying searching for the HOW-TO, good luck:)

I first look at their website and if it doesn't look professional or it has problems, bye-bye! I also e-mail and IM the sales dept. and ask tons of questions. If they don't respond within 24 hours, they are out (if the sales dept is slow, just imagine how support would be!)

Make sure to search around and find out as much info as possible on your possible hosts. =)

I got drunk

If they have a good site design then that is a good point. See if you can 'Take a demo' and see if you like what you see. My host offered free space and that is how I got started while I was just learning HTML and no I upgraded and am please with their performance

I've been through a dozen hosts over the years and probably made every mistake known to man. First and foremost never base your choice strictly on price. I've experienced two hosts that shut down without notice leaving me scrambling. I look at the longevity of a said company, search for comments or complaints on this board and a few others, weigh features against monthly fee and finally see how quickly they respond to emails; chances are if they take more than a hour for a sales related inquiry then support is likely worse.