If you were to say that there is no such thing as a bad web hosting company, you would not only get a lot of people who would disagree, you would also probably get a really hostile reaction. This is because there are thousands of people who feel like they have been ripped off by cheap web hosting companies. So much so, in fact, that there are whole blog sites devoted to how much some web subscribers hate certain low cost web hosting companies. While it may be true that some web hosting companies are better than others, the wilder accusations made against hosting companies are easy to dismiss; because if you really listen to what these disgruntled customer are saying, it sounds more likely that they didn’t know what things to look for in a web hosting company than the fact that they were the victim of corrupt business practices.
Listening to the people who don’t know anything about web development complain about their cheap web hosting company is sort of like listening to someone who complains about their bank being at fault when they don’t have any money in their account. It’s hard to take them seriously. For example, if you ever listened to someone say, “My bank bounced three checks when I had the money in the account!” you’ll understand. At first, you feel sorry for them and think, “I hate big banks, because they take your money and rip you off! How do they get away with it?” Then, after talking to the bounced check ‘victim’ for a while you realize they deposited an out-of-state check with a ten-day-hold and started writing checks on unavailable funds. Of course the bank bounced the checks. Technically, your friend had no money in their account.
It’s the same with web hosting companies. When you sign a contract, you have to go by all of the rules, and no matter what the advertising says, a web hosting company will always go back to their contract –no exceptions. A good example is the advertising claim for unlimited disk space and bandwidth that cheap web hosting companies make for shared hosting plans. If you actually sign up with the hosting company, they will put a limit on the bandwidth and disk space that you get per month in the contract. This limit will generally be based on the amount of bandwidth and disk space that the average customer uses, plus some extra. On the other side of the argument, if you talk to the angry customer, they will say that unless true unlimited disk space and bandwidth are delivered, the hosting company is guilty of false advertising and fraud. Who’s right? The hosting company who made generous claims of unlimited disk space or the web developer who tried to load 25,000 GB worth of web site files onto a shared server? The answer lies in the contract.
The fact is, that it doesn’t matter what a company claims, because what they are going to give you is in the contract that you sign. The offers and wording on the main page of a low cost web hosting company change daily, but the contract that you sign is good for at least a year, and any small claims court will hold you to it. So forget all of the promises that a sales rep from a hosting company makes, the things to look for in a web hosting company are all in the contract that you sign. To that effect, here are some things to ask yourself before you tie up your bank account with a legally binding, low cost web hosting contract:
Who are you signing a hosting contract with?
This can be easily overlooked, but is the most important question to ask. It’s easy to assume that you are signing up with the company whose name is splashed across the main page of the web site, but that is not always the case. When you are looking at web hosting companies, the first place to go is the ‘about us’ page. This is where you will find the real information about the company. Look for how long they have been in business, if they are owned by a parent company, and where they are located. If this hosting company is owned by a holding company, do some research on the parent company, because ultimately, this is who you will be dealing with if things go sour. Another red flag is a company that is less than a year old or one that is simply owned by a few people who operate out of an undisclosed address. It is one thing to sign up with a faceless conglomerate who you have to fight for a refund, and quite another to try to track down a few guys that operate out of their parent’s basement. The ‘about us’ page will often name the owners if it is a smaller company. Do a search on these names and see if you come up with anything. You may be surprised. Also, check to see if this company is located in another country, because if things go wrong, your options for satisfaction are almost zero.
What assets does this company have?
This is probably the least understood question, but one of the most important things to look for when searching for an affordable web hosting company. This is because if a cheap web hosting company is owned by a conglomerate, they may not exactly have a bedside manner when it comes to customer service, but they do have assets. But what does that mean? It means that they have money to update their software, their servers, and hire a better IT staff. The four guys in a garage may have the best intentions and the best customer service, but if they rely on monthly payments to keep their company going, you can bet that if they don’t get new customers, they won’t get new equipment or software and may even close the company without notice.
What’s the equipment situation?
Once again, you can get more information from the ‘about us’ page than anywhere else. Many people get fooled by the account summary page, where the web hosting company lists all of the brands of computers they use and the features of the servers and the operating systems. However, they may fail to list where the servers are located, how old they are, what kind of security they have, and in the case of shared hosting plans, how many customers are on each server. These are the questions that need to be asked, and if the servers are leased from a third part data center, you have to be even more careful. This is because when a hosting company leases servers, they lose direct control over their uptime. A hosting company may lease computers from one of the most reputable data centers in the world, but how do you know what kind of equipment your particular hosting company is leasing? You don’t. Unless the hosting company volunteers the information, you don’t know what kind of arrangement they have. They may only lease a few servers, or they may have space on older computers, or they may even fall behind on their lease and get their sites removed from the servers. They may also have a colocation hosting contract. This is a contract where they merely lease building space and put their own servers in someone else’s building. Anything is possible when someone outsources their data center.
What’s the software situation?
A low cost web hosting company without monetary assets is only as good as its software updates, operating system, and IT staffing. So how does this affect you? If you look on the account features summary on the hosting company’s web site, it will list not only all of the software included, but also the third party software that the operating system supports. A hosting company may claim that you can use FrontPage or Dreamweaver with their extensions on a Linux based operating system, but if this doesn’t work, your rights – as far as third party software goes – are governed by the contract you have signed. Essentially, a hosting contract will always state that they are not responsible for the compatibility of third party software. This means that if your version of FrontPage doesn’t work with their outdated Linux operating system, you are out of luck. On top of that, you will most likely not get a refund or option to cancel. Always check to see how often the hosting company updates its software and what versions they are using.
Is any of this fair? It’s up to you to decide. Do you blame the nameless, faceless institution, or the person who didn’t read and fully understand the contract they were signing? The subject of full disclosure from web hosting companies to unsuspecting and uneducated consumer can be debated for hours, as evidenced by the blogs and chat rooms that continually heap the blame on the ambiguous advertising of cheap web hosting companies. This is definitely a buyer beware situation, and even if you do your homework, you can still get the bad end of any situation; whether it is a banking institution or a low cost web hosting company. This is partially because, much like a bank, you aren’t ever going to see the inner workings of a low cost web hosting company. So just like choosing a bank, the best thing to look for when you are choosing a web hosting company is the fine print on the contract.
