To evaluate the merit of a web hosting provider, whether it be for a new site or an existing site, you must often read between the lines. In fact, use our article, "10 Questions to Evaluate and Choose a Web Host" to help you make an informed decision. It is a good idea to inquire about aspects of the provider's service that aren't typically listed on its marketing pages. Once you've discovered a provider who meets your first criteria, that of necessary features, then you should look deeper into your second most necessities, those of site availability and performance. Keep reading this page and we'll not only tell you why your current web host may not be all they say, but we'll give you the tools to prove it. The most important thing to do, as always, is to research before you buy or transfer your site to another provider. At SimpleNet, we guarantee that you'll be satisfied with our platform during the first 30 days or you'll get your money back.*

A website hosting company is a business just like any other. Providing great customer service, a high quality product and making sure customers' sites are up and running smoothly are paramount to success. In reality, it is not a piece of cake to provide those attributes, nor is it inexpensive, which is exactly why you are looking for someone else to provide this service for you.

It may sound like a no-brainer, but having your site connected to the Internet is the whole reason for having a web site. Failures that cause your site to lose connection can, and will, happen. Therefore, it's crucial to find a provider whose architecture provides the least-risk of failure. Redundancy is key. Single points of failure are very bad. It is crucial that your provider have multiple connections to the Internet. Fiber never gets cut, right? Wrong. It gets cut every time that you are involved in a mission critical venture. Construction, telecom projects and equipment failure can cause your site to go offline for an extended amount of time. This can be avoided if your provider has other connections to the Internet that will reroute traffic that would have normally been carried on the failed circuit. Yes, this means your provider must also have extra capacity on hand to handle normal traffic levels when one connection is lost.

Your web site performance is not just a measure of your web server's speed. The ability of your provider to route traffic through the cleanest Internet connections is also of great importance. Much like when driving your car, there are several streets that you can take to get to your desired destination. Sometimes you will encounter construction or an accident that will require you to take an alternative street. Well, the Internet works the same way. There are several routes that traffic can take to a destination. Your provider should be able to choose the cleanest, or most efficient, route to your web site visitor. In fact, your provider should be able to continually tune these routes to find the best path to your visitors. Another way to achieve this is by minimizing the number of different networks traffic will pass through before reaching its destination. It is extremely important for your provider to have direct connections to networks that have lots of eyeballs. In other words, your web site will be served better if your provider is using connections with networks that facilitate Internet access to large volumes of subscribers. Finally, avoid providers who only have "peering" relationships with networks. Peering is a relationship between two or more ISPs whereby they agree to create a link between each other instead of using the standard Internet backbone. Those that have a customer relationship will always get better service than those who are peering.

At SimpleNet, we've created a revolutionary architecture that will provide you with the cleanest and most effective path to your web site. Couple that with our incredible products and you'll find that SimpleNet is the only choice for your web site's success. In the hosting business since the mid-1990's, the employees that currently make up SimpleNet's work force were among those who created the first specialized Internet Presence Provider (IPP). Their relentless endeavors over the years have helped hosting businesses maintain explosive growth because of an ability to offer high quality, easy-to-use, yet inexpensive and reliable services.

*Excludes setup fee