Great Deals in Web Hosting--NOT. What to Avoid When Picking A Host

[bargainbloodhound]

What to avoid or be aware of when picking a shared web host:

1.  hosting plans that offer unlimited bandwidth- the ability to actually receive unlimited bandwidth with a hosting plan  doesn't exist now, it didn't exist 7 years ago...it is basically a scam.  Hosting plans that advertise unlimited bandwidth or data transfer in most cases actually offer less bandwidth than plans that state they offer a set amount of data transfer (i.e. 10 GB, 50 GB, etc) because they usually have something written in the fine print of their terms of service/acceptable use policies that allows them to either shut your site down or charge you a surcharge if your site actually starts receiving traffic.

2. hosts that cram a huge number of sites on one server--this one is hard to determine beforehand but if you know the name of at least one domain that is being hosted by a web host, you can go to whois.sc and it will give you the number of other sites that are on that server.  For example, the auction site bidwhale.com is on a Host Departmeny server that hosts 821 other web sites.  If any of these other 821 sites start getting any real traffic, or use resource intensive scripts, all of the other sites on the server will slow to a crawl.  By contrast the auction site dealmania.com is on a HostGo/Hurricane Electric shared server with "only" 337 other web sites.  A busy web site could still slow the HostGo server to a crawl, but the server is not as overloaded as the Host Department server.

3.  Your Use of Server Resources-  If you plan on using scripts that use a lot of server resources (auction scripts, forums, etc) and your site starts getting a lot of visitors and using more than its share of system resources, there is a good chance that your host will either A. shut your site down completely B. forbid you to use the script that is using all of the system resources or C. ask you to find a new host (as happened to FAS when it got really busy at the beginning of the year).  If you know that your site will use a lot of system resources or get a lot of visitors, it might be better to skip the "featured loaded great deal" shared hosting plan you found and instead get a Virtual Private Server hosting plan.

4. Picking A Host Based on High Web Hosting Directory Ratings--many of the web hosting directories/review sites base their host ranking lists more on the advertise $$ they receive from a host than on the actual pluses/minuses of a hosting company...so take these rankings with a grain of salt and instead visit web hosting forums/search the Internet/search the Better Business Bureau for actual customer comments and complaints.

5. Fantastico and other "Easy Install" Scripts that are included with hosting plans--in many (most?) cases the script version that comes "ready to install" with your site is not the current version and may contain known security flaws (especially if it is an outdated version of phpBB or phpNuke).  It is almost always better to go to the script maker's web site and get the latest version and install it yourself than it is to use something like Fantastico to install it.

6. 24/7 Customer Service--many hosting companies advertise this, but few actually provide it.  The 24/7 phone support that is advertised might in reality be one person answering all the phones (tech support, sales, etc) who doesn't have a clue about technical issues and is merely there to take messages.  The best way to find out if a host really has24/7 service is to contact them at 3 am and see if anyone picks up the phone or responds to your email.

7.  really great deals--when picking a web host, in most cases you get what you pay for. and that really great deal with unlimited disc space and unlimited bandwidth is probably crap and could kill your web site or online business.

[Jen]

Excellent breakdown of all the hosting mistakes I made over the past years 

[rose]

You forgot 8. Windows servers: avoid or be sorry