GoldRapt;35750 wrote:No Disrespect intended, but Pauks host seems to charge for a year whilst yours is by the month. Im with Heart, who should I choose if I move to you or paul please?
Hmm, asking a hosting supplier which is the best to use might not get you a reply that's entirely impartial..! :biggrin:
One thing to bear in mind when looking for hosting is that you get what you pay for. Many hosting companies cram far too many websites onto each server. They do this by "overselling". They promise you many GBs of space, loads of databases, huge great wodges of bandwidth, fully in the knowledge that you'll never use that much. And, if you do use what you think you've paid for, there'll be something in their T&C's about "fair usage" so they can kick you off if you use it. Having so many websites on a single server is never a good idea for the end-user, it's only good for the seller.
There will be some legitimate sellers that won't do that, of course, but finding the good suppliers from the bad ones might be a tricky task.
I would recommend:
- Keep copies of all your files and data in case you need to move elsewhere,
- Never pay a full year in advance until you've tried the supplier out, otherwise you're out of pocket if you have to move elsewhere. If you run into trouble, they're more likely to sort out a problem quickly if you control the purse strings - you could stop paying them next month. If you've paid 12 months in advance, they've no incentive to sort out a problem because they already have your money.
- Never buy/register your domain name with the company that supplies your hosting, otherwise they could make it difficult when you want to move elsewhere. If your domain name is registered through someone else, it's a simple matter to point it to a different hosting company when you want to move. But, if the hosting company registered your domain name for you, they're not going to be quick if you want to move to someone else because they'll stop getting your money when that happens.
- Never use proprietary software/apps that is only available from that hosting supplier, otherwise it'll be more difficult to move elsewhere.
In short, don't tie yourself in with a single hosting supplier. If there's trouble, you need to be able to move swiftly and quickly to ensure that your website experiences the least possible downtime.
Also, if you plan to run software such as OpenCart, make sure you check the specifications and find out what the hosting company's upgrade policy is. There's no point installing software that needs PHP 5.3.x if the hosting company is still running PHP 5.2.x. Likewise, if it's your responsibility to keep the software updated and you fall behind, consider that a server upgrade to PHP 6.x could kill your website. The same applies to versions of MySQL, Apache, and anything else the software requires. You need to be aware of server updates/upgrades.
If the hosting company is not keen to discuss such things with you, look elsewhere.
That'd be my advice, anyway.