Are all hosting companies incompetent?

It is amazingly difficult to get accurate information about some things, and one of those things is hosting. So many host companies are "affiliates" of other companies that it's almost a joke. There is apparently only one real host in the entire United States, and everyone else leases services from them. Warning: They're terrible.

I have had absolutely rock-bottom service from hosts that are trumpeted as the best in the business: Pair.net, lunarpages.com, 1and1.com, and many others. I would never use any of them again. They are not robust, they have awful ping times, they don't do regular maintenance or backups, and they don't notice outages for weeks at a time.

In short, the best host in the world is YOU.

Host your own services. It's easier, you have more control, and it's far less expensive once you get set up.

All other hosts except yourself:

• Lease services from someone else, and have no direct control. Thus, there is a defacto breach of promise to deliver services. They are also inable to make improvements or repairs, do backups, or restore backups, because they are not the actual provider. They're just taking your money.
• Claim to be on "the backbone" but none of them are.
• Claim to have amazing customer service, but you get hostile people with no knowledge or skills when you call, IF you get through to anyone.
• Claim to save you money, but in fact charge you outrageously for a pitiful service that you could perform better yourself.
  

I give pair.net, lunarpages.com, 1and1.com, godaddy.com, tucows.com, and all the rest, a BIG FAT 'F'. A -10 for the entire service. [-10 to 10]

You need two things to be a host: A computer, and a pair of IP numbers. That's it! Done.

If you need help setting up your own host, contact me for instructions. The net cost of a new computer and a pair of IP numbers is about 300.00 for a dedicated machine and 10.00 a month for two IP numbers. This beats ALL hosting plan rates that I've ever seen in my life.

All hosting plans are like extended warranties: They sound awesome, but in fact they are too good to be true, and actually are a waste of your time and money.

Google results for "host companies": The first three hits, and the three ads that always appear at the top of any google search. Ads first, all in order.

http://www.thetop10bestwebhosting.com/usg
http://www.the10besthosts.com/
http://www.hostcritique.net/

http://www.hostcompanies.com/
http://www.hostaz.com/
http://www.findmyhosting.com/

Note:
It is fairly obvious to even the newest of noobs that these are all advertising sites designed to appear as neutral ratings pages. This sort of problem is systemic on the web. Nothing you read on any website should be taken as a literal truth. Not even my own, this one.

Few of these pages even carry the same suggested host companies, and only one appears on most of them - apparently the biggest advertiser. Funny that I've dealt in hosting for 12 years and never heard of them! Two of them are red flags: Yahoo is an abysmal host and should never be used by anyone in business. There was once a website for corporations that used to sell kits to allow corporations to auto-mail all instant messenger, group, club, and mail users without an opt-out or opt-in policy. I once had a copy of that kit that I kept as proof. I suspect that they still allow their services to be spammed for pay. I respect Yahoo about as much as I respect dung. The other red flag is the fact that the small amount of data that IS published on one page does not match the other pages proclaiming similar data. The pricing doesn't all match, and the rates of speed, and other measures of performance are apparently self-stated and not really metered.

I have metered websites before, and they'll perform to an extremely consistent rate when metered correctly. Proper metering takes out randomness and performance variables to obtain a solid number. One of many methods to do so is to take the average of more than 20 measurements of the same data. When you start to average and accumulate real data, you will see a solidity to the numbers on any website. That is their actual performance.

None of these six pages give any excuse, reason, or methodology of how they are an actual rating company or organization. That's because they are not. They are advertisers. There is no disclaimer, commitment, or process disclosed because an advertiser doesn't need to do that.

What sort of ethics does a company have when they willfully use "shill" services or deceptive advertising? Not good ethics, that's what. None of these companies should be trusted. Even my own last used host is listed on one of these pages, and I have to say that I am less than impressed with their abilities or service. I can, and do, provide better service to myself with my own computer - an old simple DL360 server. You can get old servers for less than 100.00. I paid 35.00 for mine.

Conclusion:

It is readily apparent that there is no honest review. All of these review sites contain advertising. Again, if you accept advertising for a service that you are reviewing, that's a conflict of interest.

Google ads don't count? Yes, they do. Selling advertising, even random ads that you don't know of, makes you a part of the problem and ads to confusion for the consumer. When someone comes to you for a review, and they see prominent ads for a company that you've negatively reviewed, they are still likely to select that company because they are more likely to notice that advertising than your review of it.

Your landing page for a review site can not have advertising that applies to the services you are reviewing or it is a breach of ethics. Period. Ethics are strict, m'kay? The fact that all these sites do just that proves that they are unethical even if they intend to be ethical. They failed.

Co-location? Dedicated servers? You can do that yourself too, and for less than you'll pay someone else to do it. Rent an office in Seattle - a high rent area, and it'll cost you about 450.00 a month. Your telco bill will be about 250.00 a month for multiple lines. Your equipment cost will be about 100.00 a month if you lease a single rack server. You add capacity as you need it, in line with your profits. Total cost to you is 800 a month. Most commercial hosts will hit you for more than that for dedicated hosting and access to the room! In fact, none of them want you to come anywhere near their server room. It's not security - they wouldn't want you to see what you're really paying for.

On average you should be able to set up your own dedicated host [hosting at your own home] for less than a hundred a month. If you have a corporation and need to be on a bigger phone trunk, then you may need to actually rent an office downtown in your city. Otherwise, if you do self-hosting THAT IS dedicated hosting. Tada.

Why would you pay someone else a thousand a month to do that? That's like paying 300 a day to have someone clean your kitchen [ten times the average rate] when you could just do it yourself for nothing. It's exactly like that.

~D