Tamra wrote:
>I'm helping our ISP with his promo efforts -- he's making a big push for
>four of his services, and one of them is his reseller shared hosting
>accounts.
<snip>
> >in the past 3 years! So, I'd really appreciate any insights from those of
> >you who have been shopping for a reseller ISP.
> >
>
George wrote:
> We searched for a new ISP last Fall. We put together a list of
> requirements, then found the ISP's who we believed would best
> handle those requirements. We then e-mailed the information and
> got back responses. A lot of input came from others (like WCA
> members). In fact our final decision was based on a list member
> on three lists I am on.
>
> The**best** source of information for any ISP is The Directory at
> http://www.thedirectory.org/
Now there is a site dying for a redesign! I tried the search engine for a
few things (Cold Fusion, NT) and it returned nothing. When I finally dug
around I found it to be just link lists categorized by area code or region.
The links weren't even in alphabetical order, for cryin out...ooops,
hypogycemia ;)
Anyway, whenever I've searched for a potential hosting service to act as a
reseller for I've used a similar pattern as the one George used. I always
start with deciding on _my_ requirements. I then start searching for
services that match, or come close. When I narrow the list I _always_ send
email to the "potentials" to test their responsiveness. If someone doesn't
respond quickly, they're out of the running. Customer service is #1! I don't
want to hassle with my hosting service when my client calls and says their
site is down, I want answers.
A very important thing I look for is complete information and pricing (for
both retail and reseller accounts) on the potential host's own site. If I
have to contact their sales dept for details, forget it.
If it helps any, the hosts I've settled on as a reseller are:
http://www.iserver.com/ and http://www/minerva.net/
I'm not pitching my service as a reseller, since I really only resell for
clients I do sites for, so I have nothing to gain by giving my opinion on
these services...but the iServer site is the richest, deepest site (info
wise) for a hosting service I've seen (I'd be interested in seeing others,
if anyone can point some out). You may want to look at those two sites to
get ideas for your ISP client.
I also found that searching for hosting services using most search engines
was usually a waste of time: the better hosting services rarely showed up in
the searches I did, so I resorted to other means, which led me to a few
sites that I have in my bookmarks:
http://www.ispcheck.com/
http://www.webhostlist.com/
and, for Cold Fusion hosting:
http://www.allaire.com/partners/ ,then click on "ISP Hosting Partner
Directory (dang frames).
> Did you notice any banner ads for
> reselling hosting -- and if you did, did you click on any of them?
The ones I did notice were usually selling price, rather than sophisticated
services, so I ignored most of them. If I did click on any, they didn't pan
out. Suggestions from other people who have done sufficient legwork already
has led me to some of the best resources.
Jack
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