This article is for bloggers (and webmasters) who are planning to buy Web hosting space. Here I will share with you my own experiences and mistakes in choosing a hosting service.
No Background Check
I purchased hosting from a local company without looking for any review of the company on the Web. I didn’t Google the company or scoured hosting review forums. Before buying Web hosting, I had two domain names registered with them. There had been no reason to complain. I assumed their hosting service will also be good.
Undue Preference For Local Host
Given that it’s a local company and one of the major players in India, I though it would be good to buy hosting from them as they will be easy to reach. I didn’t even bother to check the services and pricing of popular global hosting providers. Most of the assistance is online, so contacting an international company isn’t different from a local company. Yeah, phone calls are cheaper.
Paying More Than Market Rate
I had agreed to pay higher money for hosting and additional charge for MySQL assuming that I will get good service. When other popular hosting firms give unlimited space and domain name hosting with multiple MySQL databases for $6-8 per month, I paid around $100 for an year for just 500 MB space for one domain and a MySQL database.
Poor Uptime
My blog goes down for a few minutes to an hour every day. It has now started creating hurdles in growth of my blog. Every visitor who will click some link to my blog during the downtime is a visitor lost, forever.
Hope you guys will avoid the mistake that I made. Did you ever make a mistake in choosing a web hosting service?
Sathish @ TechieMania says
Hi Pritam,
I have done these mistakes already. I bought web hosting space from a company without checking their uptime and services and I have encountered down time every two days. When I tried to contact their service they also haven’t responded to me. Well finally I made the switch now and I am comfortable with the new one. Learning from your mistake is the main part and I am glad I have done it.
Sathish
Pritam says
Hi Satish, My service provider is not that bad. The major problem is the downtime. They do respond to my calls and complain tickets, but that doesn’t make any difference to my visitors. I still lose them when there’s a snag.
Techs24x7 says
I thing my provider is good enough..
Can anyone inform me whether is there any utility/method to check the downtime daily/weekly we are facing???
PR @ AlmostLikeEverything! says
I researched about this on Google and Chose DreamHost, till NOW EXPERIENCE IS GOOD!
Pritam says
Lucky you!
Sonali Joshi says
i consider uptime and inodes limit…
Pritam says
Hi Sonali, Welcome to Specky Geek! Good that you give importance to uptime. It is the one of the most difficult things to verify.
Milind says
Hey Pritam, It really helps a lots of new bloggers because i did same mistake 3 months before. I had not checked the background of hosting company.
Rohan says
Are you talking about net4.in?? then maybe i have made the same mistake you have made!! these people provide small webspace for additional costs for SQL. When i told them about my requirements as a WP site they shoul have granted me a Linux server, instead i ended up with a windows server .Had to be changed after repeated calls to the company. Then i realized they provide no Cpanel and the only way to access the site was through FTP. I was in for a next shock that they charged for having a SQL data base and it was greater than the hosting it self!! Finally i ended my ordeal and shifted to a new service though my term with net4 has still not been ended.
The new company is still a local company but customer service is prompt and personal.
Provides unlimited SQl for no extra costs not to mention the costs are also fairly cheaper than any other service provider
Milind @ Security Companies says
Hey Rohan can you tell me that provider’s name?
Pritam says
I will be soon moving to a new hosting service. Can’t let my blog suffer because of their poor performance. I have asked for refund for the remaining period. Let’s see how they respond.
Rohan says
@sonali joshi – The site looks dull and as pritam puts in his words ,it does not “give” anything significantly. it is a nice display pic you have used though sonali or should i say RAJ! lol its one thing to comment coz u are really concerned and another to post 4 letter comments to get backlinks!! welcome to the rat race….
Give ….give…..give!!!! there is no other way!! good one pritam
Rohan says
Hosting.co.in its really cheap….. 500mb hosting space and unlimited sql,email, monthly bandwidth. For just 600rs and unlimited space for 1000 rs. This is a linux server so good for WP. Especially if you have to experiment ur blog and other scripts… its a small team, I know em personally over support live chats.
Hifu says
That’s a lot of information to guide anyone planning to buy web hosting space, hopefully I’ve not faced such a situation till now. The golden rule is to research thoroughly about the hosting service before buying it. I’m sure this post will prove very helpful for new bloggers specially.
Carol Walker says
Pritam, you asked:
Did you ever make a mistake in choosing a web hosting service?Great question, Not yet Pritam and because of your blog you give us possible things happen after purchasing web hosting service..I’m glad you decide to shared about it this is great advice esp to newbie like me..We need to research, familiar and learn it before buying services…
Carol Walker
April says
Hey Pritam, trusting too much is quite not good. But Thanks for sharing your experience to us. And sure thing we will learn from the mistakes that you did. Good luck!
sai@dailyblogtools says
really very nice points sir,i love to learn from others experience.you are rock 🙂
Tech News says
I’ve the godaddy and hostgator accounts but I would like to say you the true – all major players are slow and don’t give you the real uptime and updates – better to take the hosting from small company (the price a little higher) or order dedicated server or VPS