GOOD - FAST - CHEAP: WHICH ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE?

When organizations decide to find a Web hosting provider, they usually define what they're looking for before they begin the search. An extremely simplified list of requirements might look like this: good, fast, and cheap. In a perfect world, organizations could have all three. In the real world, however, it's best to follow the philosophy that two out of three isn't bad.

You can find good service that's fast, but it won't be cheap. You can find fast, inexpensive service, but you can't guarantee that it will be all that impressive. You might find good service that won't break your budget, but you're going to wait for it.

Let's explore these three basic conditions and look at their various combinations to help you decide which requirement your organization might be most willing to sacrifice.

When it's good, you're hosting your Web site on a server that has 99.99 percent uptime, your Web host provides decent customer service, and the server performance is high quality.

When it's fast, the server's bandwidth delivers quick downloads to users worldwide, regardless of what network they're coming from, and your organization is able to make changes to the account, DNS, SQL, SSL, or any peripheral Web hosting service quickly and accurately.

When it's cheap, of course, you're paying less money. The cost is relative to the size, traffic, and service issues of your Web site. You should expect to pay $40 to $60 a month for an average Web site.

Now, let's look at what giving up one of these conditions could mean for your Web site.

GOOD + FAST = NOT CHEAP

If you want good performance, quick service, a quick Web site on a quick server, and quick response times for service changes, it's going to cost money. To be good and fast, you have to spend money on good equipment, connect that equipment to good Internet bandwidth (which is not all created equal), and most of all, find employees who can speak intelligently about Internet-related topics and customer issues.

Any Web hosting provider can go out and buy inferior bandwidth, cheap server parts, and hire inexperienced engineering and technical help, which is what enables it to charge lower prices.

GOOD + CHEAP = NOT FAST

If you want good performance and service at a low price, something's got to give. In the Web hosting world, that means your site isn't going to be as fast. You may have to go with less bandwidth (to save money) and less people to fix and service customer requests. You can have a good Internet connection, and it still won't be as fast (due to overbooking).

A good example of this is multihomed T1s, which offer many Internet connections, but they're easily overcrowded. This is the plight of many small providers. To appease customer demands for low prices, they hold off on buying the bandwidth they desperately need and stick with T1s.

CHEAP + FAST = NOT GOOD

This is one of the more common traps that Web hosting customers fall into. They see the providers touting OC-192s, but they don't realize that's just the bandwidth. What good is a Web page if the server is always going down and you can't get anyone on the phone?

Determining the performance delivery of a Web hosting provider or ISP you've never done business with before can be a difficult task. Be aware that there are many Web hosts in the market. If you're dealing with a good one, switching to it will usually be harmless because it's good at what it does and it will handle the transition professionally.