According to an Internet report, the U.S. placed 33rd in terms of Internet speed. Does it have some effect on hosting websites on US webhosting companies? Here's the image of the stats: Story here
Lots of people chose to host in the US, because that's where a lot of their clients or audience live. shad0wz
Is there any difference in terms of speed if I host my sites outside the US, say, in one of the top 10 countries?
It's depend on your ISP. You should choose an ISP which have access to the biggest networks (eg. Teleglobe, Global Crossing, Level 3, LINX, T-online) or just simply use ThePlanet They are the biggest and the best in the US.
It appears the report you linked to is all about user speeds not web host speed. It could be that the US still has a lot of users on dial up in rural areas so lowering the overall figures. It isn't going to make any difference to web site speeds to other parts of the world, that's to do with the internet backbone and transcontinental connections. If your visitors are in the US then that's where I'd host anyway but other counties will still be able to download depending more on their local connection speed wherever they are, US or otherwise. Server connections will usually be enough to cope with many users unless there's a surge in demand for your sites, or others on the same server.
In simple words - yes. Another point - hosting is cheaper on US servers. Last point - US has better machines. Good luck. Toniya
The report is skewed. Its looking at the speed rating of the individual end users connection to the internet. Given the US is so large geographically compared to some where like Korea for instance that has its entire population concentrated in one area, it stands to reason that one will be faster than the other. In terms of "hosting" however, I'd be willing to bet the US is NUMBER 1. 95% of our clients come from outside the US. As far as server farms, I for one can attest to the fact that most people outside the US look directly to the US as the best place to host their sites and or servers. YMMV.
Customers prefer US, no matter of what else you tell them. The way to get sales is to get a US server. The only servers I found sellable except for US is UK but it is more expensive. Just my two cents!
ISP might offer slow speeds but when it comes to bandwidth for websites, you will find US offers the most compared to other countries. US consumer market is huge, so it make sense to have your site hosted on US based servers.
I don't prefer hosting in the US at all, I like my stuff to be in Europe, but because of costs I go for US, it's not preference, it's a financial thing. However, unless there's a lot of people using the same server and/or many requests, it's not really going to matter where the server is unless it's somewhere really remote, miles away from the nearest exchange.
"Another point - hosting is cheaper on US servers." - TRUE.. "Last point - US has better machines." - I dont think so ^^
It depends on where the majority of your traffic is coming from, if its from the US then Host in the US as your visitors will be able to get to the site faster.
Majority of the US population speaks English as a native language which is a global language and can be easily understood by most people in the world. So all the web hosts can be sure of better communication (support) apart from hardware and network. And the best part is the infrastructure and SLA which US data centers offer.