The most valuable negative reviews are the ones that portray both sides of the pictures because they are unlikely to be biased as they can see the good and the bad unlike the ones that are just really pissed at a particular host because they made one or two mistakes.
Is your intention to run a hosting business? Or just wanna host multiple websites? If you're running a business, you might not need only a good hosting plan, but professionals caring about your online presence and helping you to succeed..
There isn't a "best host" as such. The best hosting is based on what works for you and suits your requirements. Were you referring to 1TB bandwidth? Or how many?
I would suggest Host Gator, but they have recently been acquired by EIG. I'm hearing good stuff about Site5 and TMD Hosting. Check those guys out and see if you like them. Beyond that, do some research. There's always a better host. The best thing to do right now is to put in some time and effort (A good 2 days worth at minimal) and look up reviews, check downtimes, and see who would actually provide support to you during times of need.
EIG is the thing that's putting some people off now, yes. I think HostGator will slowly start to have degrade in terms of service quality.
Sometimes small hosting company with strictly dedicated resources could be the best choice for the consumer.
Spetsnaz, It depends if OP has a requirement to host in Russia. Not a few companies are offering unlimited bandwidth.
The expert opinion is always better that the opinion of the hosting observers, though sometimes the best hosting experts work for the companies which are observing the work of the hosting providers. I would advise you to choose Bluhost for example. Their shared hosting plan includes: [TABLE] [TR] [TD]Unlimited Domain Hosting[/TD] [TD]Free Site Builder w/templates[/TD] [/TR] [TR="class: second"] [TD]Unlimited GB Hosting Space[/TD] [TD]Secure Shell, SSL, FTP, Stats[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Unlimited GB File Transfer[/TD] [TD]CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MySQL[/TD] [/TR] [TR="class: second"] [TD]Unlimited E-mail Accounts[/TD] [TD]$100 Free Google Credit[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Free Domain[/TD] [TD]24/7 Phone, Chat & Email Support [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] The real company uptime rate is 97.78%. BlueHost hosting company is the perfect solution for small websites, but think twice if you plan to choose it for big projects.
I'd suggest to go with a medium size hosting company which could be more reliable and quick with support responses. Small websites doesn't actually require unlimited resources, moreover, these unlimited plans are more often experiencing downtimes and slow connection speed, as well as slow support responses due to a high customer base. Many of our customers had these mentioned problems with the unlimited providers and they have moved.. For a big project it's always recommended to get VPS or dedicated server with the support.
Also to consider - standard provider recommendations posted on this forum doesn't always help to trust if any suggested hosting company is as great as they're described. It's always a good idea to start your own researches about the company of interest. Wish you a good luck.
Your own researches are nothing if you don't read the company reviews on different sites and forums. Only after this you can make some conclusions.But of course, the best way to know whether the hosting provider suits you or not is to contact the support or sales department by phone or via email. After doing this , you will know: 1) The response time 2) The competence of employers 3) You will know if the responses are written separately for each customer or the templates are used to make a response.
The review websites are not very reliable sources to get the important information about the provider, as many of those sites are affiliated and authors are getting paid while posting a positive reviews..
You are right, some reviews are written by the company support or sales representatives, that is quite common nowadays. A real hosting expert can determine whether the review is written by a real customer or by the company employer. Before choosing a hosting package, the user ( usually a beginner) should pay much attention to the following aspects: Price - as it is always important for a customer to buy a hosting plan which costs not much Discounts/promo - while choosing a package, the user always seeks for a discount or available promo codes which will provide him an opportunity to buy hosting for an affordable priice Disk space/bandwidth - most rookies want to have enough disk space and traffic in order to host their sites without any problems Money back guarantee - after ordering a package a beginner should be sure that the company will return him the money in case of the server problems Account activation time - costumers are eager to know how much time it takes to set up their account after they make an order on the site and pay for the hosting package. Free domain - as the customer starts its project, he/she will surely want to get it for free to save some money Scripts for site creation - when the user buys a hosting plan, he is usually not very familiar with site building and that is why this is fine when different scripts for site building are provided within the hosting package