Thread: How to select a webhosting provider?

What useful tips would you provide from your own experience? What major factors should be usually taken into consideration when selecting a hosting account?

Basically it all boils down to your needs.. Some would prefer cpanel in a webhost.. some would prefer to use something else aside from cpanel..

Some webhost caters to video uploads, some exclusively for porn sites while other webhosts would ban you immediately when you try to "house" warez and porns..

For me it should be something like this :

1. Excellent,timely, friendly, 24-7 staff support. (I prefer a webhosting with a forum)
2. Reliable servers.
3. Must have all the tools and everything that I need. (example cpanel and fantastico)

Most important is what most techy-geeky webmasters would call a "better and faster" server. I'm not that much of a techy-geeky so I'd also take this opportunity to ask WTF forumers this question:

1. How would you know if the server is "fast".. BEFORE applying for that webhost.. aside from trying out for yourself of course. What are the criteria (or something like that) in knowing "firsthand" that a particular webhost have a "better and faster" server ?

Thanks.

------------- EDIT -----------
Here's an old thread that may be handy:

Guide to Select A Web Hosting Provider

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Originally Posted by Noobeedoo

Basically it all boils down to your needs.. Some would prefer cpanel in a webhost.. some would prefer to use something else aside from cpanel..

Some webhost caters to video uploads, some exclusively for porn sites while other webhosts would ban you immediately when you try to "house" warez and porns..

For me it should be something like this :

1. Excellent,timely, friendly, 24-7 staff support. (I prefer a webhosting with a forum)
2. Reliable servers.
3. Must have all the tools and everything that I need. (example cpanel and fantastico)

Most important is what most techy-geeky webmasters would call a "better and faster" server. I'm not that much of a techy-geeky so I'd also take this opportunity to ask WTF forumers this question:

1. How would you know if the server is "fast".. BEFORE applying for that webhost.. aside from trying out for yourself of course. What are the criteria (or something like that) in knowing "firsthand" that a particular webhost have a "better and faster" server ?

Thanks.

------------- EDIT -----------
Here's an old thread that may be handy:

Guide to Select A Web Hosting Provider - Webmaster Forum

------------------------------

That's the asnwer :3076:

ok, I will follow all these tips and instruction when will select a web hosting company the next time! Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by womanizer

ok, I will follow all these tips and instruction when will select a web hosting company the next time! Thanks guys!

Did you select a bad host recently or something it seems you are moving all your files/sites to a new provider.

Another good tip is to find customer reviews at either forums like WTF here or WHT or any other site that offers customer hosting reviews. Generally they can tell you alot about a hosting company. and visit their company forums. If there are no complaint threads you can assume to stay away as people are probably getting censored and not happy with the hosting. You can't please everyone so if you find a forum with some complaints that would be acceptable imo

I have used most of the biggie hosts like hostgator , dreamhost etc....but I found sambahosting to be the best from my own personal experience. They are comparatively a smaller host comparing with hostgator, but sambahosting take care of the customers very well and the servers are very fast. I would suggest you to give them a try.

Look if they own the servers, ask for a trial account and file a support ticket before buying hosting as it can help judge their response time and support services.

There are quite a few factors you should take into consideration.. more than you can probably think of right off the hop.

I actually came across a pretty good article a few weeks ago, and for some reason I decided to bookmark it, so I may as well share it with you.. it's not too lengthy or anything but it's worth the read!

http://www.merlesworld.com/webhost_worries.txt

Originally Posted by durakiller

Look if they own the servers, ask for a trial account and file a support ticket before buying hosting as it can help judge their response time and support services.

As usual, all hosting providers reply to sales, pre-sales questions as quickly as they can, but the situation is completely changed when you start hosting websites!

Best way: shop around . Ok, I'll rephrase: surf around. If you find some provider that interests you, if you need, ask 15 questions. It doesn't make a difference. Look on Webmaster forums, Google especially, and some popular directories. Ask several different companies and compare the answers you get.

Test out their support process too.

i think first u have to check how old is this provider excist.. that will give you a idea about the Staff and the Servers used.

then you check in the net if this Provided is rated bad or good, reviews about it and so on..like that you will not Spair your time.

I've always done a lot of research after I've narrowed the options down to 4 or 5 host. You can search for the hosting companies name on webhostingtalk, or search in google and see if anyone has had a bad experience with them and what happen.