Wat makes a good hosting company.

[Dynamix]

I would liketo use this thread to discuss what makes a good host and what are the signs of a bad host, please do not mention individuals in this thread as it will turn into a long boring thread.

I think a good hosting company needs the following.
1.Reasonable hours of support.
2.Properly configured server with no bugs or security flows.
3.A range of payment systems and not just paypal
4.A variety of plans, with flexibility like no contract etc.

In my views signs of a bad hosting company are.
1.Very Cheap plans, there are many reasons why this can be bad first of all the big O of Overselling, if the price is cheap the support and other things will be lousy, (maybe on occasions this isnt a case, but certainly you pay for what you get)
2.Hosts trying to push you into hosting with them, by quickly lowering their prices if you say there out of your budget, thats certainly a sign to avoid in most cases.
3.A very high server load means there is lots of other peeps on the server overcrowded etc

If you have any more suggestions please post them by all means.

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

Hmmm... you missed a range of technologies; can't have a server that does PHP v3 or something, or old versions of MySQL. Or does PHP, but doesn't offer a Java based package or such like...

Not so sure about 'flexibility like no contract etc'; that would involve great risks to the host if there was no contract as to payment - as to when you pay your monthly price - as without a Contract the User couldn't be sure of staying on the Host and so Monthly Prices would have to be done at the end of the month for the last month; which isn't very safe.

Second one looks dodgey! I think I'd be scared if a host I had did that.

 

[Dynamix]

Yup some good comments Lk!

 

[Junior1]

Hmmm., good host.

I would say..

1. Multiple Platforms - different flavors of Unix, windows,
2. Connectivity - how much excess bandwidth does your provider have?
3. Backups (not only data, but power, and connectivity)

4. Price (remember you get what you pay for)

Keep in mind that an ISP has bills to pay, they pay for
Bandwidth, electricity, cooling, employees, etc etc.

If a hosting company is going to give everybody and their
Brother 5.00 hosting with 10gigs of transfer and
2 gigs of disk space. They wont be able to keep the servers on.
They over sell everything in hopes that the client WONT use the
Services. And that's how they turn a profit.

5. Support Agents.

When your WebPages doesn't come up, you don't need a support
Agent to argue with you. They should be concise and explain
Everything to the customer, so he/she can understand what exactly is
wrong. And what needs to happen to find a solution for the problem.

6. Location.

To have a hosting provider in a place that is prone for natural disasters
is asking for problems.
Ask where is their data center. And why is it there?

Here is somethings for thought.
(just because they are a provider
doesn't mean they don't make stupid decisions)

Some buy a building in the suburbs of a town where they can get
larger buildings cheaper. Do you think your provider took into consideration about telco charges?


7. Honesty.

If a server fails, will your provider say "this server died because of such and such" or will they say "reboot your computer and check with your provider maybe they have routing problem."

Here are a few things to chew on. If you have any questions
feel free to send email. I am new to this forum, I do hope I make a good
impression!

 

[Dynamix]

Wow u have made a good impression Sir, some brilliant comments their!

 

[jcbyrd_com]

Quality Hosting

If you are interested in more information about what makes a quality web host check out my full article here...

http://www.byrdhostingservices.com

 

[Dynamix]

Sounds good.