What do you look for in a good hosting company?

[joethomas3000]

So what do you look for in a good hosting company, some people like unmetered and some people like limited specs etc but what do you WANT and for what price???

[immental1200]

I want ulimited bandwith, an easy ot use cpanel, intergrated ftp and a basic site maker, lots of storage and all for under £15 a month

[joethomas3000]

I want ulimited bandwith, an easy ot use cpanel, intergrated ftp and a basic site maker, lots of storage and all for under £15 a month

Thanks for your sensable comment

[Geek-9pm]

There are so many good hosts, it is hard to pick just one.
But you need to be suspicious to those who claim they can offer real bargain service and  get everything you want.

Asking for unlimited anything is not reasonable. Specify want you want an shop prudently. Now take a look at this:
http://www.1and1affiliate.com/tips/press-affiliate-news/unlimited-traffic/
Do y0u think they could really, really offer unlimited anything? Even with fiber optics, the servers themselves have finite number of CPUs and a finite bus bandwidth inside the box. And if one  has unlimited bandwidth, then why do some customers pay three and fours times as much as what the OP stated, 15 ponds.

Dedicated servers lease for about $150 per month, more or less. It gives as much bandwidth as nit can. These people want to talk to you first, then tell you want you need:
http://www.rackspace.com/hosting_solutions/
But don't let them talk you into want you do not need.

In the UK, check out http://34sp.com for competitive prices.

And no, I am not part of any of them.  Just trying to be helpful.
Forgot to mention: http://netobjects.com/
For some, it could be a good choice.

[joethomas3000]

There are so many good hosts, it is hard to pick just one.
But you need to be suspicious to those who claim they can offer real bargain service and  get everything you want.

Asking for unlimited anything is not reasonable. Specify want you want an shop prudently. Now take a look at this:

Do y0u think they could really, really offer unlimited anything? Even with fiber optics, the servers themselves have finite number of CPUs and a finite bus bandwidth inside the box. And if one  has unlimited bandwidth, then why do some customers pay three and fours times as much as what the OP stated, 15 ponds.

Dedicated servers lease for about $150 per month, more or less. It gives as much bandwidth as nit can. These people want to talk to you first, then tell you want you need:

But don't let them talk you into want you do not need.

In the UK, check out 34sp for competitive prices.

And no, I am not part of any of them.  Just trying to be helpful.
Forgot to mention:
For some, it could be a good choice.

34sp is alright but for a beginner its ctrl panel isnt the best to get around and thanks for your post

[Geek-9pm]

Yes, 34sp.com has a very spartan control panel. You said you were a beginner.

Many hosts offer cpanel, which has most of what you need.

Also, Most hosts will let you log directly into the shell if you have a premium account. With you own server, that is what you already have. But you want a GUI that makes things easier to manage - Right?

BTW: Many professionals prefer to do the whole site in WordPress. 
Why? Just because. I really don't know why. They just do.

[Rob Pomeroy]

what do you look for in a good hosting company

The hosting company doesn't upgrade systems or change things arbitrarily...

[immental1200]

The hosting company doesn't upgrade systems or change things arbitrarily...

Gotta agree with this .... was using a company recently and they posted notifications about upgrading the other servers. My servers name wasn't listed so I assumed it would be OK, Then when I started getting errors, they told me it was being upgraded... helpful !

[soybean]

So what do you look for in a good hosting company

How do they provide support to clients?  Many low cost hosting services have a support forum and may provide email support.  For telephone support, you'll probably have to look at a higher price level.

Do they have a setup fee?  How does billing work?  Can you elect to pay by month or do they lock you in to paying for a year to get started? 

Do they offer features such as easy forum installation in case you want to have a forum on your website?

Reliability.  You won't be a happy camper if you find your site down at various times.

[Geek-9pm]

Back to topic. Here is an item of interest.
http://beta.dreamhost.com/
I have no idea of the quality of this company. But what they did right was a very nice professional looking, IMHO, home page. It would appear that they at least spent some time and money on a nice presentation. And they tell you right up front what you get and what it costs.

[immental1200]

Back to topic. Here is an item of interest.
http://beta.dreamhost.com/
I have no idea of the quality of this company. But what they did right was a very nice professional looking, IMHO, home page. It would appear that they at least spent some time and money on a nice presentation. And they tell you right up front what you get and what it costs.

Uh ... bad link

Or the sites down :L

[Geek-9pm]

Uh ... bad link

Or the sites down :L

LOL  The site is down! Well, mark  that none off.

[TechGeek]

The problem with hosts that offer cheap services and unlimited everything is that they oversell a lot. It's not worth it to go with a cheap host that will disappoint you.

Choose a host that has a great reputation. I've been using WestHost for 3 or 4 years and I've always loved it.