When to Cancel a Web Hosting Plan

When to Cancel a Web Hosting Plan


Choosing the right hosting plan is difficult enough when you don’t have to factor in an endless sea of choices and the possibility of receiving terrible service from the hosting provider you choose. Unfortunately, shady business is all too common in the web hosting industry, so it is therefore important to make sure you choose the right company from the beginning. Even so, it is not uncommon for someone to be stuck with a hosting plan that they despise, being afflicted with site downtime and poor performance.

Most people would like to believe that the unreliable service will end soon, and that they’ll be able to enjoy a web hosting plan that will meet all of their requirements. Nonetheless, if you’re having a bad experience with your hosting provider it may be time to make a change, and/or request a refund. The following information details when it is best to switch hosting providers.

Persistent Downtime


Persistent site downtime is absolutely unacceptable in the hosting industry, especially if you currently own an online business that depends on the reliability of your hosting provider. If your hosting provider offers an uptime guarantee, and most do today, be sure to take them up on this guarantee, and at the very least ask for a discount on your current bill because of the inconvenience. If the company refuses to provide some sort of compensation for the persistent downtime then it is time to find a new hosting provider. Any down time that lasts longer than a few hours should warrant a web hosting provider change as well.

Bad Customer Service


If you’ve been on the phone with customer service several times, only to be treated poorly each time, then it may be time to consider a new hosting provider. Good customer service is an integral aspect of every good web hosting provider, and many times being a webmaster requires immediate assistance from trained professionals, not half an hour delays and unfriendly people that do not know what they’re talking about. If you’ve had problems with your hosting provider’s customer support, you may need to start thinking about different options, before you encounter a serious issue that needs immediate support. Customer service should be friendly, fast and knowledgeable about every aspect of web hosting.

Unfair Terms and Fees


If you’ve been noticing unusually high, unfair or unexpected fees on your monthly bills, you may want to contact the hosting provider to let them know how you feel. If you’re told there is nothing they can do, or if you continue to receive inflated bills each month, it may be in the best interest of your online business to cancel your hosting plan with the current provider. Likewise, you should examine the terms and conditions of any hosting plan before you make the decision to purchase the plan, especially if you’re required to pay a year in advance, as is the case with many shared hosting plans, which are often unreliable


When to Upgrade Your Shared Hosting Plan
Web hosting plans allocate a certain amount of server resources to each plan holder, and when the plan’s limitations are exceeded, all of the site’s hosted on the web server (or server partition) instantly experience poor performance and site down time. Thus, it is crucial to know when it is time for a hosting upgrade, particularly in the shared hosting environment, which has more limitations and restrictions than any other hosting type.

As a novice webmaster, you may have the urge to get started with your internet endeavors as quickly as possible, and as such you’ll undoubtedly go for the cheapest shared hosting plan available. While this can be advantageous in the beginning, eventually the capabilities of your minimal hosting plan will be exhausted, and knowing when to upgrade will be the only knowledge that will keep you from experiencing the negative effects of low bandwidth and disk space.

Multiple Domains


Although most shared hosting plans allow for unlimited domains, some of them charge multiple domain fees, and some plans only allow for a certain number of domains. If you foresee the need to create a multitude of web sites then you may want consider upgrading your shared hosting plan before the burden becomes too much for your current plan. Aside from the fees and limitations associated with adding new domains to your hosting account, the new domains will likely cause an increase in bandwidth and disk space usage, both of which warrant a hosting upgrade immediately.

Slow Page Loading


Some instances call for a hosting upgrade due to a symptom of low server performance, rather than a foreseen need for more server resources. One such symptom is slow page loading times, which can become an annoyance to site visitors, ultimately contributing to a decrease in web traffic. If any of your site’s pages are loading slowly, then you may need to enquirer with your web hosting company about the limitations of your hosting plan. Upgrading your plan as soon as your site starts to perform slowly is the best way to prevent any of the problems associated with poor site performances, some of which can greatly decrease your profits and counteract your efforts as a webmaster.

Traffic Surges


if your site is starting to experience high levels of traffic and you’re continually adding new content to it, then you may need to consider a comprehensive hosting plan immediately. Upgrading to a strong shared hosting plan is certainly an option, however most experts recommend a VPS or dedicated hosting plan for the serious webmaster. Although increased traffic levels are definitely a good thing, when your hosting plan cannot handle them they can become one of the biggest let downs in your career, as the site visitors may leave your site immediately if it takes a long time for your pages to load. Traffic surges can cause the server to crash completely, or they can cause your web sites to be denied access to the server temporarily, so it is very important that you are prepared for massive levels of traffic by upgrading to a more robust hosting plan before the resources are actually needed