sam12 — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 04:16:44 +0000

It depends what you like. I like to talk to a human being live. Emails normaly take longer IMHO to respond.
regards,
sam12

mairving — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 03:28:20 +0000

sam12 wrote: My advice whe looking for a web hosting company is the support they provide. Call their 1 800 number and check how fast they pick up the phone. Ask the tech a few questions about their company, what is their downtime etc.. Check my signature with 6, 7 and 8 you can have unlimited domains in one account. Best of Luck!
sam12

Not necessarily true. Some hosts don't even offer phone support. Host Matters does all their support via email/helpdesk. Actually works pretty good and don't spend hours on hold.

WebHostingTalk is always a good starting source for researching other hosts. Bluehost has mostly positive reviews which is unusual.

solidghost — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 23:02:49 +0000

For me, I tend to frequent forums, especially wht, to check out whether their support is good. I mean dont just read the complains, but everything about the company.

Not it's not always useful, some of my sites are hosted by site5, used to be good and it's support excellent. Then a few mths back, it went downhill. Server downtime is high, emails get unanswered and so on.
But to be fair to site5, it seems to be better now,

sam12 — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 20:23:37 +0000

My advice whe looking for a web hosting company is the support they provide. Call their 1 800 number and check how fast they pick up the phone. Ask the tech a few questions about their company, what is their downtime etc.. Check my signature with 6, 7 and 8 you can have unlimited domains in one account. Best of Luck!
sam12

Busy — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 19:59:53 +0000

My advice for picking hosts (sorry any hosts out there), ask the questions via email (you'll get a fast responce nearly everytime, presales is always fast, after can be a different story) but most important watch the forums, try twice a day to look at them and keep on eye on how many posts/threads are being deleted. These deleted posts are the real feedback they dont want you to see as it's all negative.
Not all these posts should be taken as true stats as there will always be unhappy people that want everything for nothing.
Watch for at least a month if you can, and keep track of the complaints being made, usually it is down time, corrupt features, bad responce time and information on help tickets etc.
Also if the forum has no negative feedback, be afraid, be very afraid as it usually means they have a screening process set up, even just one or two can be bad.
Some hosts use 3rd party help desk or live help, I have encountered non English speaking people and english speaking folk that no nothing about anything, and all they can suggest is you email the admin or help desk (this is live support). So a query in the middle of the night can also be a good test.
At the end of the day hosts are human, they usually have the servers at the planet or somewhere and are subject to faults like anything else in life. Some downtime is normal, some bad hair days are also normal. I reckon most hosts do a great job, one I wouldn't want to do as there are so many stupid people out there, then again there are hosts that just want your money and don't give a rats razoo about you or your site.

James — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:38:41 +0000

Bluehost is a fairly well known provider.

The many reviews I have come across seem to be mixed, some very happy, some not at all. It wouldn't hurt to try.

When finding a web host, think about the features and support you would personally like in the service. Email the hosts you would like to consider, to their presales - see what responses you get. Discuss and ask questions. When you are sure and have no questions/doubts left, it's time to click the order button.