Giving Up and Switching Hosts

A

Arch

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How long would you wait before giving up on a host?

A friend of mine has switched hosts 3 times in the last year because of various issues. With the first, he waited 7-8 months because just as soon as he wanted to switch, things would get better and resolved. Things are going wrong with his current host now with his site being down way more often than it should, but he's sick of switching. How long should he wait it out and hope for the better before going through the hassle of switching again?
 
Arch said:
How long would you wait before giving up on a host?

A friend of mine has switched hosts 3 times in the last year because of various issues. With the first, he waited 7-8 months because just as soon as he wanted to switch, things would get better and resolved. Things are going wrong with his current host now with his site being down way more often than it should, but he's sick of switching. How long should he wait it out and hope for the better before going through the hassle of switching again?
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Well I guess you need to tell your friend to wait it out until he is fed up. Everyone is different on how they respond to these situations. Some people have patience and will wait it longer than others that need their site up and cannot deal with unsatisfactory service.

If he is getting fed up already then I think it is time for him to make a move to a find reliable host. The moving may be a hassle, but if he is after better service it is something he will just have to deal with or jsut stay where he is and put up with the situation.
 
Keep in mind that if your friend is paying $1 per month for some plan with ridiculous specifications, such as 10Gb storage and unlimited bandwidth, your friend will end up in this very situation again and again.

The old adage, "you get what you pay for" applies in this instance.
 
I'm really not sure why he has run into so many problems. Money isn't an issue, and he's mentioned before that he's paying a pretty penny for the hosts, which is why it's so frustrating. The biggest issue, I think, is that it gets tons of traffic, has many, many pages, and maybe his hosts just aren't large enough to handle that sort of thing?
 
Arch said:
I'm really not sure why he has run into so many problems. Money isn't an issue, and he's mentioned before that he's paying a pretty penny for the hosts, which is why it's so frustrating. The biggest issue, I think, is that it gets tons of traffic, has many, many pages, and maybe his hosts just aren't large enough to handle that sort of thing?
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Well if that it the case that it is a large site with many page views, maybe he should start looking into a VPS server. It will offer more power than a shared account and he can have control over everything.
 
Agreed (VPS). However, many pages and many visitors are relative. How much bandwidth does the site use? How much storage? What's the database size?

These are specific measurements and are a real determining factor with regard to shared hosting, VPS, or dedicated.
 
I guess generally it's enough to spend 2-3 months with a host to get a clear idea of how things work for you, I'm speaking about daily maintenance and support organization, not about some rare accidents that may happen to all hosts.
 
Well you will know who will give proper support during the time of shifting itself. If they handle your package smoothly and you do not face any issues then the customer support is good and they have some sensible people on there tech desk.:)

Jay GM - Sales
www.resellermall.in for solutions on bulk hosting
www.internetworldwide.org for end user/dedicated servers/portals
 
Well the thing to keep in mind is this, and you should probably tell your friend....

ALL hosts have issues from time to time, and there is NOT a single host that is immune to problems.

With that said, and being that you stated that money is not an issues. I think he should wait it out for as long as it takes to actually research a new host.

When I say research, I'm certainly not referring to Googling space, bandwidth, and prices specs. I'm talking about real research to find out what others think of a particular company.

While there certainly is no "official" best hosting company out there, there are certainly top level datacenters and networks that are considered to be top of the line.

Find hosting companies within those datacenters or networks may be a great place to start, because a hosting company is only as good as heir upstream.

Some network/datacenters to consider (from research and from personal experience)..

- Peer1
- NAC
- Gnax
- The Planet

These datacenters are widely reviewed (can be easily researched), offer super customer service, and solid network connections.

Starting with a list of great upstream also helps narrow down the selection. You'll now go from an Olympic size pool of providers to a Kiddie Pool size.

Once you have done this, and then have had a chance to evaluate their level of support, then you're left with the easy part.....Space, Bandwidth, and the price you want to pay for it (which is where most people mistakenly start)
 
Wow, thanks! I sent this to my buddy to check over and have started going through your suggestions myself. I've looked at reviews before, but there are just sooo many hosts out there that it's hard to know where to start and who to believe. The idea of going from Olympic sized pool to kiddie pool is a simple one....but definitely useful. You gave me a better starting place so I can help him continue looking for a better one without feeling like I'm scrambling around with no end in sight. Thanks again.
 
Well there definately is a HUGE number of hosting companies online. Afterall hosting companies are what makes the internet possible.

I can promise that it will not be a quick process, but the outcome will be much more rewarding, and if done properly, you'll have a solid list to choose from so that you'll rarely if ever have to go through the process again.
 
Choosing a good host will save you a lot on the time and money you spent on solving problem and switching.

Do not choose those cheapest plans, they are heavily oversold, and will bring trouble even when your site only have a few hits.
 
If you realistically calculate your needs and find someone who offer a realisitci rate for it, you may not need to move at all.
 
I think your friend should just get a VPS or a dedicated server if money isn't a problem. That way he won't run into trouble if his site gets a lot of traffic because those are more independent than shared hosting.
 
brianf said:
Keep in mind that if your friend is paying $1 per month for some plan with ridiculous specifications, such as 10Gb storage and unlimited bandwidth, your friend will end up in this very situation again and again.

The old adage, "you get what you pay for" applies in this instance.
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I must totally agree with this post. :D
 
brianf said:
The old adage, "you get what you pay for" applies in this instance.
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I wish it applied in mine.
We're paying about $180-$190 a year for hosting and it just keeps getting worse.
Now since they just changed to offering unlimited bandwidth and diskspace Im guessing its only going to get worse.
I found our hosts by doing a lot of searching for hosting companies listed in the top 10 on a lot of sites and ours was in the top 3 on many, but Im just not as impressed as so many of those 'reviewers' seemed to be.

If I get what Im paying for then its a good deal...but when our sites were going down for 5-10 minutes at a time 25 times a day for weeks, I definitely felt a bit ripped off.
 
web77org, don't let this discourage you from doing the same research again. The awful truth is, that hosting companies rely on technology, and well, technology isn't perfect, just like anything else.
 
ANMMark said:
web77org, don't let this discourage you from doing the same research again. The awful truth is, that hosting companies rely on technology, and well, technology isn't perfect, just like anything else.
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I started out a year ago january with some joke hosting for $25 a year.
I knew nothing about hosting so it was a cheap lesson.
Switched over to Godaddy which I was great for uptime, but their hosting features are terrible if you want to add new domains in some areas. Plus they charge a lot of money for things that most other hosting co's give in their standard packages.

So Im at IX webhosting now since last june. It was absolutely fantastic until January (last month) when the problems began.

I dont want to change hosts because they were really great for months without a single problem, so I feel like this can be resolved....well, DID feel that way until I saw the 'unlimited' garbage on their cheaper hosting accounts.

I paid to upgrade to their premium acct to have those extras and what do they do...turn around and give them to everyone so that now the only thing Im paying the extra hundred or so a year for is a few more dedicated IPs that I dont need and an extra freebie domain that I can do without.

Ill definitely be downgrading since theyre giving away for free all those things I upgraded to get, but im really worried that this 'unlimited' nonsense is going to result in overselling and my sites having problems again.

My domains are included with my hosting package. They are registered in my name, so Im hoping if I have to move that I can take them with me.
Do you know if that is the case ?

:)
 
A good business/brand dont cheat .Hosting companies are here for business .So if your friend had to change 3 hosts there is something seriously wrong ... maybe he should first read terms of hosting service before committing any deal
 
web77, I honestly don't know if you'll be able to take the domains with you or not. I don't offer free domains with hosting packages for this very reason: my clients and I both know that the domain is theirs, even if registered through my company, since they paid an extra charge for it.

If you're the registrant, you potentially have a stronger case for taking the domains with you. I would search your current provider's forums, search the internet, search their FAQs to see if they say anything about taking your domains with you. Then, if you can't find anything, figure out which registrar is being used. Contact the registrar directly and ask them about their domain transfer policies when someone else administers the domain for you. That way, if your provider does decide to try and hold your domain "hostage", you'll know what steps to take to get it back. (You'll also want to take screenshots of your whois information to show that the domain does indeed list you as the registrant.)

Good luck..!
 
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