I realize that this is an older thread but I'm new here so hopefully I'll be forgiven if it drives it to the top again. I've been burned a time or two and one of the things I have been looking for (I am headed towards reseller hosting this time as the current project's getting far to much traffic to keep on going and the hosts I'm with have some funny MySQL policies that appeared when I was changed over to a new server.)

I have it narrowed down to just two. I've been getting good response times in my tests and the pricing is very acceptable. The difference between the two is one is going to provide me with free IP addresses so I can have my own nameservers. Oh, and the person who answered one of the questions even offered to work with me to ensure that the transition goes smoothly so my own site won't lose data in the forum and other databases.

All of those are wonderful and over the past three months (I still have hosting available until June actually and it's all paid for but I'm likely to just leave it there and not worry about it) I have spent a great deal of time researching, watching uptimes, watching the site's listings for the number of sites they host etc... All that is well and good but the reason a number of otherwise decent offerings aren't making it to the final round is longevity.

I don't want a site that's full of glitz. I want answers easily available and an intuitive layout. I don't want gizmo's and design tools foisted on me at affiliate rates - I want them to support server to server FTP. But what I really want to know is that they've been in business successfully for a good long time and that they're going to be here for a while longer. I want to know that not only do they have money invested but they have time invested and a true desire to host.

So, when I buy this hosting package and bring the people with me it's going to be pretty expensive to start. I am going to buy the whole year's worth (thank God for refunds just in case) and grow the business as my company's site's traffic is also growing. In picking between these final companies it's likely going to come to longevity and the format they responded in.

KGIII