I’ve tried many kinds of virtual host, and I had also been a hosting reseller, now I want to share you with some tips on choosing a web host. Today we’ll focus on the role of hosting service providers and resellers in the field of web hosting.
1. The definition of hosting provider and hosting reseller
Beginners usually cannot tell a hosting provider from a hosting reseller. For these beginners, both of providers and resellers are hosting service providers and they see no difference between them.
Frankly speaking, web hosting providers are those who rent or host servers, custom hosting plans and market the hosting products independently; while hosting resellers are those who register an account and get allotted disk space and bandwidth from hosting provider, what reseller sells are the hosting plans designed by the provider. The most obvious difference lies in that, providers has the control permissions of the servers, while resellers act as the salesmen and after-sales men of the provider, they promote the products for the providers and have no access permission of the servers.
2. Why should we realize the difference between hosting providers and resellers?
The quality of the web host depends on the hosting provider, and a reseller can seldom control the quality of the web host it promotes. So it is necessary for you to make out the real provider if you want to purchase hosting plans from the reseller.
The advantages of identifying hosting providers and resellers: 1) you can decide whether to purchase a web host through reseller or not
2) Once you are going to buy a web host from the reseller, it is recommended to make sure the following questions: whose hosting plan is the reseller selling? How about the quality of its products? Can the reseller offer you the service you need? What will happen to you if the reseller terminates its business?
3) With the answers of the above questions, you may get a more preferential price from the reseller. The resellers often offer the same products with lower price than the provider does.
3. Which one should I prefer, hosting provider or reseller?
The favorable price is a great advantage of resellers. Resellers can also make web design for your website. But every advantage has its disadvantage, the service quality and stability of resellers troubles lots of their customers.
Based on these advantages and disadvantages, you can make the decision according to your preference.
4. The first thing you should do at the sight of a hosting service provider/reseller
Before going with a new hosting company, always take some time to check them out. 1) Do a quick search in Google for your host, and read up on any articles and reviews that come up about them. By reading about other people’s experiences, you can learn from their advantages and mistakes. While all the reviews are only for reference. 2) Make a call to the hosting company on weekends, see if someone answers. If there’s someone answering, ask him/her some questions to make a test; if it goes to voice mail, leave a message and see how long it takes them to call you back.
Conclusion
As far as I am concerned, I’ll never choose a hosting reseller unless I’m quite lack of money and want to spend as few as possible or I’m not serious about my site. Otherwise I’ll always prefer a hosting provider, even if it will cost more than a reseller does. Usually stability is the first element that we should consider.