The Perfect Web Hosting Company? Part I

// February 5th, 2010 // blog

Today I spent some time reviewing hosting companies. I currently host my own sites on Bluehost and have recommended Bluehost to my clients. However, just like with auto insurance, sometimes a better plan, pricing, or service, comes along in hosting as companies go back and forth to one-up each other on these features to win over new clients and keep their current ones. It’s time I revisit hosting companies to ensure my clients are still getting the best plans for their money.
First, I visited a few review/rating websites including:

After comparing from list-to-list, I really zeroed in on the companies that offer 100% money back guarantees. Since I am considering switching hosting, I don’t want to risk switching to a new company and then have it not be all that it’s cracked out to be. I want the assurance that I can back-pedal at any time. That seems like a policy held by a company with confidence!

So, I narrowed things down to:
http://JustHost.com
http://ipage.com/
http://SuperGreenHosting.com/
http://HostClear.com/

I also included http://fatcow.com on my list because they are green and I read many great reviews, despite their 30 day only guarantee.

My next priority was unlimited everything – pretty much, anyhow.  I looked for plenty of email addresses, storage space, transfer, and mysql databases.  I also looked for site statistics of some sort.  This was a standard for the most part, so I jumped to my 3rd priority: customer service.

I started with JustHost.com.  I went to their website and navigated between pages to compare plans.  When doing so, an obnoxious chat box poped up each time to entice me to puchase a plan immediately and “not leave the page” (despite me simply navigating BETWEEN pages of their site).  I figured, since I have an agent, I’ll just ask her the questions I was about to try to answer via their website.  She kept copying and pasting the same 3 discounts over and over no matter what I asked her.  She then admitted that she was a virtual agent and had no idea about their different plans.  I discontinued my chat and called their phone number to see if I received the same level of support from their phone.
…to be continued (I know, the suspense is killer!)…

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