Choosing a web hosting company - what to consider

[Robster]

I've gone through shared hosting, reseller and dedicated servers with various companies over the last 6/7 years.

Here are my thoughts on some things to look out for:

Avoid companies that offer "unlimited" data transfer/bandwidth
There is no such thing as unlimited, and most companies that advertise this will have an acceptable use policy which means that at any time they can decide you are using too much capacity, and close your account or try and charge you the earth. You are much better off going with a company who have specific quotas and tell you how much they charge for going over, that way you know where you stand from the start.

Stick with Linux
Unless you are planning on using a specific application that requires Windows hosting, its probably best avoided. Just to be clear, I'm not being anti-microsoft for the sake of it. Around 60% of web servers run Linux/Apache and there is much more free help available for it on the internet than for Windows/IIS. (NB: Front Page extensions are available on most Linux hosting packages)

Domain transfer
Some hosting companies will tell you that you have to transfer your domain registration to them when you take up hosting, this is not necessary, all you should need to do is ask your domain registrar to update the nameserver records on the domain.

Unfair charges
Some hosting companies have charges that they don't make clear when you sign up, for example charging you to transfer your hosting to another company. This is relevant to the point above, as if they have control of your domain then they have pretty much got you and you'll have very little choice than to pay their transfer fee.

Check out their company information
Any hosting company worth its salt will have information on their website about the company and their data centre. Its pretty much industry standard for a data centre to have: security, fire supression systems, backup generators, and links to the internet by more than one provider. If they don't have this information on their site then ask them about it, or just move on.

Backups
Backups are invaluable, so find out what the company's backup procedure is and whether or not backups are included in the price of the package.

Customer Service
Find out what their customer service is like. If you run in to problems, their ability to fix things in a timely way is crucial. Probably the best way to test this is to send them an email or give them a call. If they are good at what they do and value their customers they should be able to give you a quick response to questions about any of the things mentioned above. Also try asking on webmaster forums about people's experiences with a specific company.

I hope this is useful

[djpassion]

doin a whois on providers is good too, like if they have been going for 5yrs + you know theyll be good

for example

Bluehost.com - Blue Host

Bluehost.com

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