Presales questions and purchasing hosting

11. What's your uptime guarantee? How will I be compensated if you will fail to meet the level that you guarantee?

This I've also discussed in more detail in a dedicated article: "The uptime guarantee".

12. Will I have access to a control panel? Which control panel do you offer?

It would be highly unusual for a host not to offer a control panel, but you never know. Go with a host that offers one, preferably one that you're used to. The least you can do is make sure that their control panel does the things you need it to do.

13. Is the support free?

Yes, this is a good question to ask if you don't find the answer on the website. Although very rare, some hosts charge for it. There are also hosts that don't offer support at all. Wouldn't that make for an unpleasant surprise? 

14. Is the support available 24/7, meaning is there always someone (awake) in front of a desktop ready to read and answer my questions? Is it also available by phone?

The question includes the definition of 24/7 support so there can be no doubt on what you mean. Some people are very fond of 24/7 support by phone. I'm not, but if you really need (or want) it, look for hosts who offer it. (Don't forget to test it and see if it's really 24/7!)

15. What software is installed on the server? What version? (operating system, web server, php, etc)

Usually the newer the version the better, but sometimes the host might postpone upgrading until most of the bugs in the newer version are taken care of. If you need something (like a certain version of PHP, MySql etc, this is the time to ask if it is available or not.)

16. What are the specs of the servers you generally use? What specs will have the server on which my website will reside?

Some people want their websites to be hosted on high end, well equipped machines, reasoning that the more powerful the machine, the better the performance. Fact is that a host will usually put more websites on a more powerful machine, which will diminish the advantage of the higher computing power, although, if properly configured and not overloaded, it might remain faster.

Look to be hosted on a machine that the host is used to have. If you're to be hosted on a powerful machine that they've never used before, there is a risk of them overestimating its computing power and overload it.

17. How many websites do you put on a server?

More often than not the number varies from one machine to another, based on the types of websites each of them hosts, on the type of the machine etc. If the websites on a server are more CPU intensive than the ones on another machine, it will be able to handle fewer websites.

18. What's the maximum amount of CPU usage I'm allowed to use on a consistent basis? What's your general "resources abuse" policy? How are the offending websites treated?

This is a very important. Compare the answers between the different hosts and see who gives the best answer.

In the best cases the offending websites are temporarily moved on a free (or almost free) server. The owner is then notified and asked to either upgrade to a semidedicated, or dedicated solution or to change hosts if he so chooses.

19. What's your servers' average load? What's the average load of the server where you'll have my website hosted? How about average CPU usage?

The lower the numbers the better. Compare that between the hosts you're considering (make sure you understand what "Server Load" is).