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?

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?

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.

I must totally agree with this post.