The Core Competencies of Hosting |
There are 5 factors by which all companies can be measured.
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1. Reliability |
| This rates the ability of the vendor to provide a stable, fault-tolerant
infrastructure. Most web hosting companies will boast about their 99.9% guaranteed uptimes but even
these hosts will have outages! I recommend that you evaluate the provider's infrastructure to see if they offer "N+1" redundancy. This means that every potential
point of failure is equipped with a backup system that will take over in the event of an outage,
including redundant Internet connections, power, routers, switches, local network circuits, and
servers. |
In my own experience, it is always better to go with a Web Hosting company
over a bundled hosting plan that your Telecom company may offer. Usually, since web hosting is the core
business for a web host, their staffs are highly trained, and they typically have multiple contingency
plans in place for network, hardware, power, and facilities outages. The result is that you can expect
your network to be about as reliable as your telephone service.
TIP: Network providers can offer consistent and high-quality support, but a co-location provider may go to
greater lengths to meet customer needs.
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| 2. Technical Support |
Ask any web designer or developer and they will tell you how important having an
AVAILABLE and COMPETENT technical support staff is. Especially when your website is down and your vistors
are being effected.
Almost all companies are offering free 24/7 technical support. That means that the company
must hire competent staff that will be available to answer phone calls whenever you call. This is not a
cheap service so how do companies afford it? Here are some shortcuts the web hosting industry likes
to use
a. Outsource Support to India - A recent trend in industry is for companies to hire cheaper
support staff out of India. Problem is, most inquires are treated with cookie-cutter response
where calls are handled like FAQs and REAL issues are routed back to the company
b. Limited Support Staff - Cutomers are put On-Hold for extended periods of time due to
limited number of support staff (especially during weekend and evenings)
c. Non Technical Staff - Hire cheaper staff to simply handle inquiries and not answer problems
immediately but rather adds them to a queue.
d. Hide Telephone Support number - Often hosting companies will do everything they can to prevent
you from calling. Making it difficult to call is a very effective method.
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