Disaster

I thought it would be a simple matter of changing my DNS entries, uploading my content to the new provider and that would be the end of it.

Unfortunately, I wasn' t nearly that lucky.

I happened to sign up with my new web host just after they started to experience inordinate downtimes, overloaded servers and user revolt. There was also no way to speak to a human, and their customer service was atrocious.

I finally located a number for them, which is just a recording that says: "Hello. If you would like to leave a message, press 1". I left 4 messages and still haven't heard from anyone, 5 days later.

I have learned a few things:

• Never sign up with a web host that doesn't have a Support/Customer Service phone number.


• Call the numbers and see if there is anyone actually there


• Similarly, never do business with a company who's address is a PO Box.


• Don't just send Sales an e-mail when you are looking around, send a note to Support as well. See if they reply and how long it takes.


• If a company advertises a "99.9% Uptime Guarantee", ask them what the Guarantee actually is.


• Never assume you get anything with the account, no matter how obvious it seems. If you want it, make sure you ask up front.


• Do a Traceroute on their domain, find out what kind of network connections they have. You might even be able to find out if they are hosting their machines on another provider.


• See if anyone is linking to them using Google's "link:www.sitename.com" feature. Sure, there might be a lot of links, but you might find an important piece like this one: www.qwestoutage.com.


• Make sure they have a 30-day Money Back policy. Print it out, it might not be there by the time you want your money back.


• Don't tell your current host your leaving until your site has been completely moved over to your new one. That includes e-mail, ftp accounts, everything.