Web hosting
[EDIT: When i originally wrote this article, EUKhost had compensate staff. They were reliable and efficient. However, their service has since gone down hill a lot. Im looking around at the moment for an alternative hosting provider. If i find one that is good i will let you know. Thanks]
As a web designer I was looking for a hosting company who offered a hosting reseller package that also specialized in hosting Joomla sites since most of my websites are built using Joomla.
I have dealt with many hosting providers in the past and to be honest I have lost my patience on a few occasions. One particular hosting provider that springs to mind outsource their customer support to the Philippines. Of course their call center operatives do the best they can and one should not be too critical. However I found myself struggling to understand a word of what they were saying. Additionally, on many occasions I found myself waiting up to two days for them to respond to email inquiries. As far as I am concerned It is very important to be able to communicate with a hosting provider quickly and efficiently.
Overselling is another common problem associated with many hosting providers. Especially the cheap ones. One of the results of overselling is that the servers become relentlessly slow. Anyway, approximately 6 months ago I signed-up for the hosting reseller package with eUKhost.com. So far so good. They boast the usual uptime guarantees although downtime has never been an issue with any of the hosting providers I have used before. Their hosting plans are reasonably priced. When it come to finding a good hosting provider...reasonable is good! They don't try to sell too much for too small a price. Their customer service has been impeccable so far. They have an online chat system and you rarely have to wait more than a minute or two before you are talking to a customer service representative. Personally I like using the chat applications. I find it easier to explain something in writing but at the same time I don't like waiting for emails as I'm very impatient. They also have a community forum, which is good as you can discuss your hosting experience with other customers. For example, if your site is slow but everyone else's site seems OK then the chances are it's an issue with your site and you don't have to waste the time of the technical support team. Anyway, I won't bang on about the technical specifications of their servers/packages but if your a web designer looking for reliable website hosting I would definitely check them out. eUKhost.com