the old adage "you get what you pay for"

[basschick]

recently someone on another board was tired of paying a large amount for "premium" services and for bandwidth that he doesn't use so he asked for recommendations. a couple of us recommended hosts that we both use and like and another guy with a more expensive recommendation said of our posts "you get what you pay for".

well, i get tired of hearing that. i'm sure it's true - to a degree - but before it works, you have to know what the thing is worth. for example, i don't pay that much for hosting, but i get great service and i'm happy with everything. so wouldn't that mean i'm either getting more than i paid for or that what i pay is the right amount?

that being the case, when does "you get what you pay for" apply?

[abostonboy]

that being the case, when does "you get what you pay for" apply?

When you have a HUGE emergency and need the right help fast.

Many people think eating at McDonald's is a bargain. Until one day they goto the doctor and get their cholesterol checked.

[RottenRay]

I've found that the cost of hosting and the quality of hosting are usually unrelated. You can pay a lot or a little for the same level of service and reliability.

It also depends on your level of knowledge.

For example, GoDaddy has some good economy dedicated packages for less than $100/month, decent bandwidth, fast machines and nice pipelines, but ZERO tech support - you'll have a fast, useless account that will never crash.

Here are what I consider to be 2 benchmarks:

-- Never needing to call or email tech support - good documentation, good control panel, good server config should eliminate most of the need for help.

-- Proactive approach - I'd rather be warned about downtime (such as replacing a suspect server before it fails catastrophically) than have a site go down (no pun) unannounced.

[gaybucks_chip]

Here's an example.

One of our previous hosts we had been with for some 5 years. The server was pretty much unmanaged, but if you needed something done (reboot, network issue resolved, etc) the host was reasonably responsive and takes care of the issue pretty quickly. Sometimes they'd do stuff they really should have charged for (given it was a low price with no service included) for free, and I had no real complaints, but when it came to things like security updates, installing applications, troubleshooting problems, etc. I was left to either do it myself or use a freelance tech to fix the problem.

Now we're with NatNet. We actually got this server in under their price match, but it would otherwise have cost a bit more than double what the old host charged. NatNet resolves tickets within 5-10 minutes, installs applications, troubleshoots scripts, takes care of all security updates, provides free backups, and if there's ever a problem, I can get someone on the phone and usually have the problem resolved before I'm off the phone. I have a lot more time because I don't have to mess with stupid maintenance issues, security updates, trying to debug a cranky script. Even with our servers that we're paying Nat Net's full price for, we are still ahead because we no longer have to hire the outside techs to do security updates, install scripts, etc.

Another former host we had is The Planet. We were with them also for about 5-6 years. When we started, they were fabulous, service was responsive, people were knoweldgeable, but then they got sold and the service went in the toilet. Phone staff changed from experienced techs to bozos who had no idea what I was talking about. It got so abysmally bad that I would literally have to spend 90 minutes on the phone to get a server rebooted (and if I didn't wait on the phone until the problem was fixed, it could easily be 24 hours.)

NatNet is expensive, but the service is truly extraordinary. I've been with a dozen ISPs and none has begun to touch the level of service they maintain. Are there other hosts who are good, do a good job and run a reliable network and will help you out in a pinch? Sure.

Are there other hosts that, from the top to the bottom of the organization, are focused on absolutely perfect service, and train each of their employees to do everything possible to delight the customer every time? I doubt it.

For AJ and I, at least, the money we pay to NatNet, while higher than our previous host, is well worth it in terms of increased reliability, better peace of mind, and less to think about... and in that way, I absolutely think, in our case, we *do* get what we pay for :)

[HunkMoneyLuke]

Good quality hosts also provide a lot of services behind the scenes, like keeping your server updated and patched, tweaking it for performance improvements, securing it by altering some key factors, shutting down DOS attacks within minutes, providing proactive monitoring that auto-alerts support if your server stats are out (for example, if you are all the sudden pushing too much or too little bandwidth compared to your historics).

And when you are running your business and earning your livelyhood based on your site being available and fast, its this type of stuff that matters. Tell me a cheap ass host does that stuff??????

[abostonboy]

I just can't stress enough how much I don't "comparison" shop price when it comes to hosting. Most hosts that I have had in the past, I don't think I got what I paid for. NatNet has really spoiled me.

Just the other day I tried to help a friend deal with an issue at WebAir. It was one clusterfuck of a mess with their stupid support team. Would have never happened at natNet. Actually, I am sure someone would have lost their job if this happened at NatNet.