The truth is some hosting providers are great, and some are downright awful. We primarily use Amazon Web Services (AWS) for our hosting. Even though AWS works for us, it isn’t a suitable option for everyone. So we often have to deal with other hosting providers on behalf of our clients.

Whenever I have to deal with a hosting providers’ sales reps’ it dawns on me how hard it must be for people with limited technical experience to get their money’s worth.

I recently reviewed a client’s hosting set-up. Their requirements were straightforward and would have been fulfilled by a decent Virtual Private Server (VPS) costing around £50-60 per month.

When I pointed out that paying in excess of £200 per month was over the top the client responded with the stock line, “you get what you pay for”.

To which my response was; “yes, but how much of what you’re getting are you actually using”.

And this is the crux of the problem I have with hosting providers in general.

There is a massive disconnect between the interests of a non-technical customer and those of a sales rep or engineer.

The customer wants piece of mind, the sales rep wants to hit their targets.

The result is that non-techncial clients more often that not end up spending far more then they should be.

Of course this can often work the other way – AIM-listed companies on shared hosting plans spring to mind.

Anyway the point of this post was to say if you’re a techie please offer a helping hand (and no that doesn’t mean becoming a reseller) and if you’re a client, please accept it.