You KNOW you have a really bad hosting company when – yeah – well, where do you start right? There are so many things that can go wrong with hosting on the Net, that you are definitely going to want to make sure you take the time to pick a reliable, well known, honest, well established hosting company to host your website. Great, so you KNOW that, but what you do not know yet is what you need to be looking for to spot the BAD ones.

Some of the baddies you can spot miles away. For instance, if you read closely what they offer, and realize that whoever wrote the copy likely didn't have English as their first language and the sentences don't even make sense – RUN don't walk to another host provider.

If they have limited Technical support, head for the hills. How on earth are you supposed to function without adequate tech support? If something goes wrong in the evenings, on the weekends or the holidays, guess who gets left holding the "bag". There are times when you need support NOW, not two days from now. Here is how to test that out.

First, flat out ask them their tech support hours. Then make a call to see if they handle your questions quickly and professionally. If you spend more time on hold than you do sleeping, this is not good. You could also try contacting support online as well and see how they handle your questions. If they leave you with more questions in reply to you, it is going to be a long haul before your get what you need to know.

If a hosting company promises unlimited bandwidth or storage space – think – oh phooey! Ain't no such thing as unlimited, unless it's a lost leader promotion meant to sucker in customers. What happens with this type of situation is you get whatever they promised you either yanked or seriously cut back. They cannot afford to carry you as a customer and give you unlimited bandwidth. Someone has to pay for it, and they are not running a charity.

So, they want you to sign a contract? Do not do it. Why would they want to keep offering you good service if you have a year contract with them? Answer is, well they likely would not. Oh you'll get service, but not the same as when they were wooing you to land you as a customer. Start with a month and see how it goes.

They guarantee you 100 percent uptime. Yeah – right! There is no such thing. Close to it perhaps, but never 100 percent. It is just not possible. You want them to be honest with you and give you a ballpark figure. Ask the straight out what their uptime is, and if they DO say 100 percent, start laughing, hang up and move on.

It is a crapshoot at times isn't it? Trying to sort out the bad hosts from the good ones can really be a trial and error process. Chances are you may make a mistake and go with a bad host, but since you have read this article, you will catch on to that fact a whole heck of a lot earlier than you would have if you had not read this.

Do not be discouraged in your hunt for a good, low cost, reliable host provider. They do exist and they do have good packages for you to consider. Try not to fall into the trap of going for the cheapest plan you can find. It is not always going to be the best one.

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