Jaiem — Mon, 10 May 1999 23:58:00 +0000

I don't think reselling is such a bad thing. From what I've seen, not a lot of hosting companies offer services directly. That is, with many hosting companies you must sign up through a reseller.

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UKWebs — Mon, 10 May 1999 19:08:00 +0000

I have to agree. We don't own our IP addresses, but we have dedicated colocated servers. This means the ARIN entry shows our colocator, not ourselves, as the owner of the IP address.

What you could do is a TRACERT on their server. This might give you some idea on whose network the server are located, but won't tell you if they have a dedicated server or not <shrug>.

I agree with Chad that you shouldn't discount resellers. If you grill them well, and ask them outright what value they add to their service (if they admit to being resellers) you should hopefully get a feel for them. Many offer extras like HTML/CGI support that can be invaluable if you're quite new.

The best way I'd suggest is to get recommendations from others based on your requirements. Your mileage may vary, but at least it gives you an idea of who to choose from.

Regards,
Jonathan Michaelson
UKWebs - Hosting, Design and Scripts
http://www.ukwebs.com

[This message has been edited by UKWebs (edited May 10, 1999).]

Mon, 10 May 1999 00:09:00 +0000

Brian,
Checking the IP number usually DOES NOT help. The fact of the matter, most hosting companies DON'T own the IP numbers that they use. The company that usually owns the IP numbers is the hosts upstream (where their servers are located). Now the few hosts that have the money and own their own NOCs, they do own their own IP blocks, but for the most part, us littler businesses don't own our IP addresses.

Jeffyen,
There really is NO way to tell, for sure, if a company actually owns their servers or resells. The best method of finding out is asking the company straight out... Yes, I know, you are likely to not get a straight answer, but it is the only way to find out now-a-days.

Many people look at resellers like they are bad??? Resellers often have more time and money to put toward more dedicated support and customer service, as well as offering additional services that a "real" host couldn't often offer.

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Chad Simper
Dynamic Internet Solutions
[ www.dids.com ]
E-Mail [ chad@dids.com ]
ICQ [ 31723855 ]

BRIAN — Sun, 09 May 1999 23:45:00 +0000

Not exactly sure, but this might help:
http://www.arin.net/whois/
you will want to take the IP from the host's first nameserver and check if the host really owns that IP.

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Brian Farkas
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