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What makes a hosting company good?

94MB.com

94MB.com

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I am setting up a site - www.webhostingstandards.com, i will make a logo that you can put on your site if your hosting company conforms to certain standards.

I have not made these yet so i need some ideas which make a hosting company good and reliable such as not offering unlimited plans and other stuff.

I need some ideas for standards for my site, once made, providing your site does comply with the decided standards you can be listed free of charge and use the www.webhostingstandards.com logo on your site.

So... any ideas on what makes a hosting company good and reliable please post.
 
Well, support must be speedy, downtime must be minimal...the usual things. But I imagine you're looking for something beyond those, right?
 
Okey, here are some IMO:

- Good uptime
- More than one support channel
- Attentive Staff
- Runs Updated Software (ie. latest php (either 4x or 5x lines), mysql) - no outdated software, means fewer security risks and signals good server management
- Has plenty of php extensions
- Doesn't disable things like cron jobs, or drastically limit things like emails and databases.
- Provides extra features and/or addition services to customers - ie. tutorial section, rich knowledge base, cheap reselling of software such as clienttec for resellers
- Of course, no unlimited space or bandwidth.
 
These are all good but i am looking for precise examples, for example atleast 99.8% server uptime, i need things that i can use as requirements. not just good uptime, please define.

Any ideas
 
Starcraftmazter said:
- Runs Updated Software (ie. latest php (either 4x or 5x lines)
Click to expand...
Slightly off topic, and to publicly reply to your PM Starcraftmazter, the newest Zend Optimiser for PHP 5.2.0 does not support scripts encoded with Zend Guard. Based on this fact, we didn't update to PHP 5.2.0 yet. As soon as Zend fixes it's issues, we will. Just a note to other people who might also be wondering why we still have PHP 5.1.6.
 
We still run PHP 5.1.6 because we get Internal Server Errors on PHP scripts every time we try, and we're not bothered enough to look into why that is. We're just waiting for 5.2.1...
 
Of course there are other factors which come into play I realise that, and I'm not "badmouthing" anyone who doesn't run the latest version of php.

Rather what I was saying is, it wouldn't be all too good if a host ran, say php 4.3.1 or 5.0.2.

Those types of hosts obviously need to be stayed away from.
 
In response to a certain other thread, do not make the overselling status of a host a criterion. However, you should take that into account. Figure the industry average for expenses, and if the host just goes way too far over that then you can consider counting it negative toward the host.
 
Some ideas already in use:
provide accurate and up-to-date hosting product information
provide helpful solutions to sales and support requests
honor the money-back guarantee period specified on your site (if any)
provide clear and proper billing
provide Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption during payment transactions
resolve customer disputes promptly and professionally
pro-actively monitor services to ensure maximum server performance and uptime
safeguard customer privacy by not sharing, renting or selling client information
Click to expand...
http://www.webhostingstuff.com/hostingethics.html
 
Starcraftmazter said:
How about,

Promptly inform customers about any changes to the T&C and/or their plan?
Click to expand...

TOS/AUP'S etc really annoy me

I find some really rude

"We resever the right to change this policy without any notice at any time"

etc I think a policy on having to email/contact users in some way when changes are made is a good idea...
 
underg said:
TOS/AUP'S etc really annoy me

I find some really rude

"We resever the right to change this policy without any notice at any time"

etc I think a policy on having to email/contact users in some way when changes are made is a good idea...
Click to expand...
That's to cover themselves. Most companies do inform their customers of changes. That's the ethical thing to do, anyway.
 
-Uptime Above 99.8%
-Response time within an hour
-Multiple ways to contact support
-Interactive support methods
-Proactive downtime resolutions
-Knowledgeable response to support
-Customer satisfaction

You need to set definite guidelines, not just general one's like good uptime, or good support. What makes the support good? What makes their uptime policy better? If they ---- up, do they take responsibility, give you some money back, or in the first place, prevent it from ever happening with redundant connections?

Exactly my point.
 
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