When buying hosting, as explored in a previous article, it is necessary to explore the type of servers and control panels that they offer to their customers. However, the increasing homogeneity of even the most competitive industries is reflected in the hosting market, which means that there is less to choose between them. It seems that cost and customer service are the only really distinguishing factors. The problem is, price and customer service are often inversely proportional, with people often favouring low prices over an effect after-sales support team.
The discrepancies in price between hosting companies is really rather significant. With some companies you may find that you can host your sites for as little as a few pounds per years, others may make you pay closer to one hundred pounds per year. For most the answer is simple - go with the cheaper hosting company and laugh at the ridiculously uncompetitive price of the other company. However, the company must have some justification for charging significantly (often up to 20 times) more than their rivals, and someone, somewhere must feel this is a price worth paying for the level of service offered - assuming that this company does indeed have clients.
So, with luxury hosting, what are you paying for? Let us assume that the set-up costs for each company are the same, which means you are not paying for the host’s inability to find a good deal or even improved quality equipment. The other major cost to consider is staffing. We are getting close to the point here. The companies charging greater prices can afford to staff their servers with a much greater number of support and technical staff. Whereas companies charging next to nothing for their server space, with a low staff to server ratio, are likely to be run by only a couple of people for what could be thousands of clients.
What does all of this mean for you? It means that should anything go wrong with our website then you are likely to be able to get the issue resolved more readily if you have selected the pricier host. Whether or not it is worth the cost, is a matter for you to decide.