Choosing an ISP to Host Your Website

Physical location does matter. You want to host your website on servers that are well-maintained and monitored for malfunctions.

Detailed questions to ask:

• How long has the ISP been in business; and can you contact them by phone and talk to a live person?
• Do they maintain the latest software? Are the servers using proprietary (limiting and more expensive) or open-source operating systems?
• Is your FTP space password-protected?
• Is the bandwidth capacity sufficient for your business purposes?
• Are the servers backed up frequently enough for your business purposes; what are your options?
• Are there provisions to make sure the server stays up during power failures (are the servers on Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and are there longer-term backup power generators)?
• If a server goes down for any reason, how is the ISP notified, and what is their emergency protocol?
• The advantage to having the web development team in daily contact with the people who maintain the servers is that they all know what the "development environment" is (software and versions, security, setup parameters, etc.), avoiding surprise changes, and "the passing the buck phenomenon" if problems arise.

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