Questions to ask a prospective web hosting provider

[SenseiSteve]

I realize this topic gets beat to death, but it remains revelant. Feel free to add or dispute.

Managed or Unmanaged

Do they offer managed/unmanaged services? Can they customize packages? Are they flexible enough to accommodate your specific needs?

Contact Information

Contact information and procedures? How easy is it to reach their billing, sales and support departments? Are they knowledgeable? Are they professional? Do they seem genuinely interested in your concerns and requirements?

Are they a middleman?

Are they a reseller, or does the buck end with them?

Options

What add-ons/options do they offer? Are control panels, like cPanel or DirectAdmin included? Can they host Linux and Windows platforms?

Longevity

How long have they been in business? Will their support hours change once school starts? Do they have 24/7/365 phone and ticket support?

Staff

How many employees do they staff? It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you only have one or two staff to respond to requests or issues.

Terms of Services and Acceptable Use Policy

Do they have a published TOS/AUP? And does this correspond to marketing material on their home page? An example would be bold marketing ads for unlimited bandwidth when their TOS specifically addresses termination procedures for exceeding allowable use.

 

[eMediaSalesAbe]

Ok, I have asked these questions, now what? do you have any opinions on what to do and how it would help in picking the right host for you?

 

[Artashes]

Are they a middleman?
Are they a reseller, or does the buck end with them?

Not sure this one is the right question to ask. A vast majority of operators out there is a reseller of someone else. It starts with a data center and ends with your local web designer that offers some shared hosting.

A client has to base his information on service he will receive and that's difficult to compare a lot of times. For example, suppose you are shopping for a VPS. You go to a large provider that has clients running hundreds of servers with them - you only one. Who will receive priority when things get awry? So a lot of times you'd be better off dealing with that large reseller of theirs (one running many servers) than directly with them, knowing they will be taking care of you quickly and efficiently.

 

[SenseiSteve]

Ok, I have asked these questions, now what? do you have any opinions on what to do and how it would help in picking the right host for you?

Here's one solution - pick out what's absolutely necessary for you and if they don't offer it, eliminate them from your list of prospective vendors. Assign weight values to the others, with more weight assigned to services you really want, but can fudge a little on. Assign lower weight values to services they offer, but you'll probably never use. Do this for each vendor, add and compare the scores.

 

[SenseiSteve]

Not sure this one is the right question to ask. A vast majority of operators out there is a reseller of someone else. It starts with a data center and ends with your local web designer that offers some shared hosting.

A client has to base his information on service he will receive and that's difficult to compare a lot of times. For example, suppose you are shopping for a VPS. You go to a large provider that has clients running hundreds of servers with them - you only one. Who will receive priority when things get awry? So a lot of times you'd be better off dealing with that large reseller of theirs (one running many servers) than directly with them, knowing they will be taking care of you quickly and efficiently.

Artashes brings up a real world scenario where it's sometimes better to go with a middleman for better service. Agreed. :agree: But that's always the case. I remember a thread months ago on another forum where many data center providers stated they gave no preference in answering support tickets, regardless of size.

 

[eMediaSalesAbe]

Here's one solution - pick out what's absolutely necessary for you and if they don't offer it, eliminate them from your list of prospective vendors. Assign weight values to the others, with more weight assigned to services you really want, but can fudge a little on. Assign lower weight values to services they offer, but you'll probably never use. Do this for each vendor, add and compare the scores.

You assume to think that I know what I am looking for, if you already know what you want then these wouldn't help you much.

I wish I had a nickle for every time someone called and asked these questions, they go line by line not understanding the answers, if you want to help include the list of answers you should be looking for.

 

[SenseiSteve]

You assume to think that I know what I am looking for, if you already know what you want then these wouldn't help you much.

I'm not following you eMediaSalesAbe. If you know what you want and have literally thousands of web hosting providers to select from, what criteria do you recommend for picking one versus the others?

 

[handsonhosting]

I'm not following you eMediaSalesAbe. If you know what you want and have literally thousands of web hosting providers to select from, what criteria do you recommend for picking one versus the others?

Pretty colors

The reality of the situation is that MOST hosting providers offer the exact same packaged crap. If the only thing that is separating you from your competition is price, then go with price, but the beauty of companies is that someone usually offers something just a little different than the next guy and price no longer becomes the deciding factor.

Here's simple answers:
Managed or Unmanaged? If you don't know the ins and out of a server and want to focus on your busienss, then managed is the way to go.

Contact Information:
Do they provide a phone number? Is that important to you? How often do you think you'd really be on the phone with them? Hopefully never. If they have good service, there shouldn't be a reason to be on the phone. If you're looking for handholding on how to setup email accounts and things like that, live chat or tickets USUALLY covers those bases. It all depends on YOUR contact preference. Are they professional in speaking with you? This better be a yes!

Are they a middle man? See above. There's pros and cons. Often a middle man is OK, it's when that middleman is a reseller of a reseller who then deals with the datacenter, that's when it gets crazy. Especially if each only deals via email - you could be hours (or days) getting responses. So if not dealing with the data center directly, deal with a Tier 1 reseller (MOST large hosts are Tier 1 in that they have direct access to the hardware).

Options. If they don't have a control panel and you don't know how to do things from the shell, you need a new host. Get a control panel and make things easy on yourself. If you want quick install of scripts, make sure they have Fantastico or similar automatic script installer. Find out if they have the ability to upgrade you on the fly - room to grow. You don't want to be left in the dark (machine off) if you get a bunch of bandwidth or use system resources.

Longevity is a key. Knowing they've been in business a while will help evaluate their track record. You don't want to deal with someone still in school or taking vacations and is a one man shop who takes off leaving you to fend for yourself. There are PLENTY of one man shops that do things correctly however - forwarding tickets to cell phones, bringing computers on vacation and everything else, so don't just rule them out because they're a small company.

Staff falls into my above comments. Having someone that knows what they're doing and doesn't have everything outsourced will result in faster answers. Communication is key.

TOS / AUP / SLA - you must know what you're buying and what the breaking points are. Hold your host to it if THEY violate it. It's rare that this happens, but it does happen.

At the end of the day, it's a choice as to who you go with. Do you want the big guy where you're treated as a dollar figure and may get 24/7 support but have to spend an hour or 2 hours explaining things? Or do you want the smaller guy that values each client, works their butt off to make everyone happy and provides a cost concious solution that benefits both you and them?

What makes you go to PepBoys for a part versus AutoZone? If it's just convenience then the other guy is not doing a good enough job marketing themselves as THE place to be!

 

[Reliable-Hosts]

great info, thanks

 

[SenseiSteve]

@handsonhosting
Exactly what eMediaSalesAbe was asking for. Great explanation!

 

[ishane]

Thanks for suggesting questions. Are you satisfied with your host only asking by these questions? Can you explain what you want to say exactly?

 

[eMediaSalesAbe]

Good info Conor

 

[jaesonlewis]

Another point I want to add is weather they offer monthly billing and if they do, is there any additional charges. While moving to a new host, signing up for a monthly plan would make life a lot easier in case the service is not up to the mark.Uptime measured by the web site of the host could vary a lot from what you actually get on a shared server. Most shared servers would be overloaded where as host would have their homepage on a load balanced server cluster!

 

[rumsfo]

I assume sometimes resellers might offer you better service

 

[SenseiSteve]

Uptime measured by the web site of the host could vary a lot from what you actually get on a shared server. Most shared servers would be overloaded where as host would have their homepage on a load balanced server cluster!

That's a great point. Ask your prospective provider - they should have uptime stats on all their servers, even if it's not published elsewhere.

 

[SenseiSteve]

I assume sometimes resellers might offer you better service

I agree. Sometimes resellers offer better services - their business model may focus on support moreso than marketing.

 

[kvchosting]

Hello Handsonhosting,
It is a great explanation for the questions that have arise in many minds:agree:. They are important questions and answers for those who are looking for a host who should be the best for them.
Again well done for explaining the things:thumbup:.

 

[bjdea1]

Ask them how long they have been in business.

 

[tom.schavo]

I am sorry, but i did not understand what they post is about! can someone explain it?

 

[SenseiSteve]

I am sorry, but i did not understand what they post is about! can someone explain it?

Quick answer

The reality of the situation is that MOST hosting providers offer the exact same packaged crap. If the only thing that is separating you from your competition is price, then go with price, but the beauty of companies is that someone usually offers something just a little different than the next guy and price no longer becomes the deciding factor.

Here's simple answers:
Managed or Unmanaged? If you don't know the ins and out of a server and want to focus on your busienss, then managed is the way to go.

Contact Information:
Do they provide a phone number? Is that important to you? How often do you think you'd really be on the phone with them? Hopefully never. If they have good service, there shouldn't be a reason to be on the phone. If you're looking for handholding on how to setup email accounts and things like that, live chat or tickets USUALLY covers those bases. It all depends on YOUR contact preference. Are they professional in speaking with you? This better be a yes!

Are they a middle man? See above. There's pros and cons. Often a middle man is OK, it's when that middleman is a reseller of a reseller who then deals with the datacenter, that's when it gets crazy. Especially if each only deals via email - you could be hours (or days) getting responses. So if not dealing with the data center directly, deal with a Tier 1 reseller (MOST large hosts are Tier 1 in that they have direct access to the hardware).

Options. If they don't have a control panel and you don't know how to do things from the shell, you need a new host. Get a control panel and make things easy on yourself. If you want quick install of scripts, make sure they have Fantastico or similar automatic script installer. Find out if they have the ability to upgrade you on the fly - room to grow. You don't want to be left in the dark (machine off) if you get a bunch of bandwidth or use system resources.

Longevity is a key. Knowing they've been in business a while will help evaluate their track record. You don't want to deal with someone still in school or taking vacations and is a one man shop who takes off leaving you to fend for yourself. There are PLENTY of one man shops that do things correctly however - forwarding tickets to cell phones, bringing computers on vacation and everything else, so don't just rule them out because they're a small company.

Staff falls into my above comments. Having someone that knows what they're doing and doesn't have everything outsourced will result in faster answers. Communication is key.

TOS / AUP / SLA - you must know what you're buying and what the breaking points are. Hold your host to it if THEY violate it. It's rare that this happens, but it does happen.

At the end of the day, it's a choice as to who you go with. Do you want the big guy where you're treated as a dollar figure and may get 24/7 support but have to spend an hour or 2 hours explaining things? Or do you want the smaller guy that values each client, works their butt off to make everyone happy and provides a cost concious solution that benefits both you and them?

What makes you go to PepBoys for a part versus AutoZone? If it's just convenience then the other guy is not doing a good enough job marketing themselves as THE place to be!

Well, maybe not all that quick! :smilie3: