Results 1 to 24 of 24
Thread: What do you look for in a host?
-
01-06-2008, 07:33 AM #1WHT Addict
- Join Date
- Dec 2005
- Location
- Canberra - Australia
- Posts
- 108
What do you look for in a host?
When you see advertisement of a hosts plans, what do you look for? Do you look for unbelievably large ammounts of space and bandwidth or an older company who is experienced etc...? Lets discuss on what you look for in the advertisement of a hosts plans.
-
01-06-2008, 07:57 AM #2New Member
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
- Posts
- 3
its quality of service and features provided.
-
01-06-2008, 08:25 AM #3Personalized Service!
- Join Date
- Aug 2006
- Location
- CA/TX USA
- Posts
- 964
When I was an end-user, I appreciated it when a host would "bend the rules" in order to help me. It can be frustrating out there for new users, or those confronting a new problem. The last thing you want to hear is that your host won't help you because your issue isn't covered by their tech support policy.
██ UBERHOST
██ NEXT GENERATION HOSTING
Managed dedicated & shared hosting
-
01-06-2008, 08:38 AM #4Temporarily Suspended
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Location
- India
- Posts
- 858
Features, price, how long the host has been in business
-
01-06-2008, 08:45 AM #5Retired Moderator
- Join Date
- Jan 2005
- Location
- Darwin, Australia
- Posts
- 1,339
Uptime, servers not overloaded and having genuine 24/7 support
Web Hosting Plus
Premium Australian Web Hosting
-
01-06-2008, 09:17 AM #6WHT Addict
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Posts
- 154
It was really confusing to choose a good host. as there are so many.. and really you won't know if that is the one for you until you try; altho good review really does help. I personally listen to my friends' suggestion for it tho.
-
01-06-2008, 01:02 PM #7Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
- London, UK
- Posts
- 1,635
From experience, I've learnt to look first for the number of domains and disk space that can be hosted, and of course the price. Anyone that charges "per domain" (no addons) or with only a few hundred megs of disk space isn't going to allow me to expand or host small "community" sites or a photo album, which is what I want to be able to do.
I also look for shared SSL, because dedicated certificates (and IPs) are too expensive for community sites. Bandwidth is pretty much irrelevant because I don't use much and even if I was "slashdotted" the allowable CPU usage would be the main problem and that's not usually quoted.
That narrows the search down quite a bit - after that, it's all down to reputation really (support and reliability) and advertisements are useless for all that.
I guess unusual features like clustered hosting or "eco" hosting, a user forum, SSH access and so on might sway me all other things being equal, but they're not show-stoppers for me.Phil McKerracherI do server maintenance and troubleshooting
-
01-06-2008, 01:09 PM #8Newbie
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
- Posts
- 6
-
01-06-2008, 02:12 PM #9Personalized Service!
- Join Date
- Aug 2006
- Location
- CA/TX USA
- Posts
- 964
I know it may seem that way, but often it benefits the new host to start off slow. They can provide hosting for friends, seek business locally, and even give away a few accounts for a worthy cause. These initial clients help the new host learn his way around the server, the billing system, and support system. It's a means of debugging his service without losing his shirt.
If the host provides good service, certainly there will be word of mouth referrals along the way. Before long, a reputation will build, and time in business will be sufficient to add confidence to those who ask. Every customer has a right to know how long their prospective host has been in business.██ UBERHOST
██ NEXT GENERATION HOSTING
Managed dedicated & shared hosting
-
01-06-2008, 05:42 PM #10Retired Moderator
- Join Date
- Jun 2004
- Location
- Canada
- Posts
- 2,357
Depends on what service I am using under the host, such as Shared, Reseller, etc..
Shared Hosting, I'd like to know that my data is secure and safe. Should there be an accident, I'd like to know that my data can be recovered.
Under a mutli-offer host (shared/reseller etc..) Superior support offered to all tiers of hosting, not just to the ones who throw more money at them.
Great customer service, uptime as I am paying for them to have my website online. It is a waste if it's going to be down the majority of the time.
Fast services. I'd like to know that I can hit my website up at any hour or minute of the day and not have to wait a few hours.
A lot of things, but the majority here really.
-
01-06-2008, 06:00 PM #11Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
- London, UK
- Posts
- 1,635
Agreed, but you can't really tell any of that from an advertisement, can you? The original question was about advertisements (presumably including their website).
Phil McKerracherI do server maintenance and troubleshooting
-
01-06-2008, 06:12 PM #12Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Apr 2003
- Location
- Sweden
- Posts
- 1,061
Mainly in how solid the company is and how long they've been in business, although I don't avoid new companies, I just keep taking backups more frequent from them
-Mr Bister
-
01-06-2008, 06:17 PM #13Web Hosting Guru
- Join Date
- Jun 2006
- Location
- India
- Posts
- 349
Server and connectivity speed
Uptime
Courteous, friendly and prompt customer support
Cost
Space and bandwidth
-
01-06-2008, 07:16 PM #14Newbie
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Posts
- 12
The 24/7/365 Support time with Live Chat !!!
that's why I worked with Brinkster, but the servers are full of users and they have a lot of downtimes ...
but they have a "6" star Support
I do also look to the Components installed in order to use them, like PDF, EMail and Image components and the time for "money back warranty" in order to know that I can get my money if I did not like the service.Last edited by balexandre; 01-06-2008 at 07:19 PM.
-
01-06-2008, 07:31 PM #15New Member
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
- Posts
- 4
Uptime and support are most important for me, don't accept less than a 99.9% uptime guarantee!
What's a website if it can't be seen?
Also, very very few people will ever exceed their storage and bandwidth quotas.
-
01-06-2008, 07:45 PM #16WHT Addict
- Join Date
- Dec 2005
- Posts
- 106
Customer Support 24/7 key.
Europe Internet Services www.snappedstick.com
-
01-06-2008, 07:51 PM #17New Member
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
- Posts
- 4
My favourite form of support is live chat, not only because calling my US host from UK is expensive, but I'd also much sooner spend 10 minutes waiting for a live chat rep to respond on my PC than wait 10 minutes in a call queue!
Last edited by jacobuk; 01-06-2008 at 07:52 PM. Reason: typo
-
01-06-2008, 08:39 PM #18Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Aug 2005
- Posts
- 3,587
That he keeps my site online, so I won't need support and just carry on with what I do best
-
01-06-2008, 09:01 PM #19Junior Guru Wannabe
- Join Date
- Jul 2004
- Location
- DFW & BCS, TX
- Posts
- 82
I look for on that is fast & reliable first. Then I look for one that has good support (only times I have used it is when the host is having problems though) and that could fix a problem within a reasonable amount of time. I don't normally like to go with a host that offers to big of packages. My first experience I had was with godaddy and it wasn't good so I learned.
-
01-06-2008, 09:04 PM #20Junior Guru Wannabe
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Posts
- 50
i look for
Network
Bandwidth provider
uptime
support
remember you get what you pay for.
-
01-09-2008, 01:12 AM #21Newbie
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Posts
- 10
need to make sure that the hosting provider has good power. Also need to check on how much the bandwidth is and if its speed matches the price. Also see if you can find out if the network gets DDoS a lot.
<<Please see rules for signature setup>>
-
01-09-2008, 03:21 AM #22Newbie
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
- Location
- California
- Posts
- 13
What Makes A good Host
They should give you personal service
They should offer a secure hosting facility
Their servers should be reliable
They should never have additional charges
They should offer references
They shouldn't be hosting spammers or pornographic sites
Shane Anderson
Green Frog Hosting
Website Marketing -Website Hosting-Website Development
www.greenfroghosting.com
-
01-09-2008, 09:21 AM #23Newbie
- Join Date
- Jan 2008
- Posts
- 8
Support, quality, uptime, bandwidth, features and cost. pretty much in that order
-
01-09-2008, 09:38 AM #24Web Hosting Master
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Posts
- 2,204
Looking at the ad alone; price (with reasonable services added to this of course). Then I do research on the company, talk with their sales-reps etc.