Web Hosting
Reliability and speed of access
Not only should the web host be reliable and fast, it should guarantee
its uptime (the time when it is functional). Look for a minimum
uptime of 99%. In fact, even 99% is actually too low - it really
should be 99.5% or higher. The host should provide some sort of
refund (eg prorated refund or discount) if it falls below that figure.
Note though that guarantees are often hard to enforce from your
end - the host usually requires all sorts of documentation. However,
without that guarantee, the web host will have little incentive
to ensure that its servers are running all the time.
Data Transfer (Traffic/Bandwidth)
Data transfer (sometimes loosely referred to as "traffic"
or "bandwidth") is the amount of bytes transferred from
your site to visitors when they browse your site. Don't believe
any commercial web host that advertises "unlimited bandwidth".
The host has to pay for the bandwidth, and if you consume a lot
of it, they will not silently bear your costs. Many high bandwidth
websites have found this out the hard way when they suddenly receive
an exhorbitant bill for having "exceeded" the "unlimited
bandwidth". Always look for details on how much traffic the
package allows. I personally always stay clear of any host that
advertises "unlimited transfer", even if the exact amount
is specified somewhere else (sometimes buried in their policy statements).
Usually you will find that they redefine "unlimited" to
be limited in some way. To give you a rough idea of the typical
traffic requirements of a website, most new sites that are not software
archives or the like use less than 3GB of bandwidth per month. Your
traffic requirements will grow over time, as your site becomes more
well-known (and well-linked), so you will need to also check their
policy for overages: is there a published charge per GB over the
allowed bandwidth? Is the charge made according to actual usage
or are you expected to pre-pay for a potential overage? It is better
not to go for hosts that expect you to prepay for overages, since
it is very hard to forsee when your site will exceed its bandwidth
and by how much.
Disk space
For the same reason as bandwidth, watch out also for those "unlimited
disk space" schemes. Most sites need less than 5MB of web space,
so even if you are provided with a host that tempts you with 200MB
or 500MB (or "unlimited space"), be aware that you are
unlikely to use that space, so don't let the 500MB space be too
big a factor in your consideration when comparing with other web
hosts. The hosting company is also aware of that, which is why they
feel free to offer you that as a means of enticing you to host there.
As a rough gauge, thefreecountry.com, which had about 150 pages
when this article was first written, used less than 5MB for its
pages and associated files.
Technical support
Does its technical support function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
(often abbreviated 24/7), all year around? Note that I will not
accept a host which does not have staff working on weekends or public
holidays. You will be surprised at how often things go wrong at
the most inconvenient of times. Incidentally, just because a host
advertises that it has 24/7 support does not necessarily mean that
it really has that kind of support. Test them out by emailing at
midnight and on Saturday nights, Sunday mornings, etc. Check out
how long they take to respond. Besides speed of responses, check
to see if they are technically competent. You wouldn't want to sign
up for a host that is run by a bunch of salesmen who only how to
sell and not fix problems.
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