The single most important factor when choosing a web host is reliability. This is confirmed over and over again in surveys of webmasters and online entrepreneurs.

The concept of reliability is complicated. One can suppose that the majority of web hosting firms meet a minimal level of technical competence, have regularly invested in upgrades to their computers, and offer decent pricing plans. Based on these assumptions, a major component of web hosting reliability is delivering traditional, high-quality customer service.

Having issues with your website is never fun and normally all you want is a no fuss solution to the difficulty at hand but with many web hosts a quick fix to your issues can be a big hassle.

You may have gotten the impression that when calling web technical support, the representative is handling multiple calls at a time. They have thousands of clients, and many calls coming in come in waves. This can lead to your tech person and yourself becoming frustrated.

Many times the technical support person at the other end of the conversation will just automatically assume the probelm is at your end. You will get the standard response, "Have you tried this, have you tried that..." all of which imply that the problem is at your end.

While sympathizing with this approach is not too far fetched, as it is, in many cases, a user issue. However, often it isn't and you will find nothing more infuriating than wasting time attempting to troubleshoot from the website only to discover that the host needed to reboot their server to fix the problem.

Unfortunately, many people who work in support roles at web hosting firms have a minimal understanding of why customer service is important. One difficulty lies in how support employees feel better than their clients. They also realize how difficult it is for a client to transfer to another company, enabling them to get away with poor, rude service.

This is thankfully changing for the better. There's enough information out there now to change hosts without much trouble and some will even assist transferring your domain to their systems.

Unfortunately there is no completely fool-proof way to know in advance where you are likely to get good, reliable, customer-friendly service.

It is hard to find honest reviews or comparisons on the various web hosts. Most of the comparison sites are not reliable because they are trying to promote their own site and may even doctor "reviews" to be favorable to them. Public opinions that are posted may also be may be fictitious and praise the site they are posted on and criticize their competitors.

Forums on sites about web hosting can also supply reliable information, though they may be subject to the previously mentioned manipulations. However, the rapid pace of change in the web hosting industry means that comments over a year old are probably no longer applicable.

It is a good idea to look at the host's website. A very complicated site full of technical descriptions shows a lack of communication between the host and clients. This can be a bad sign. The technical support may be difficult to access, and the support staff may not answer your question in a way you can understand.

A simple layout with a minimum number of customer-oriented products and an easily-accessed support system suggests the company is customer-focused. It is also good to contact the customer help desk in advance just to see what kind of reception you get.

You should also look for testimonials from real web hosting customers. Make sure they are clearly identified with names and website addresses. If you really want to be aggressive, you might contact some of these people directly.

There is no single predictor of whether a web host will provide high quality customer service. However, the best indicator continues to be a no-nonsense, plain language approach. Look for that in a web host.

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