The web hosting market is as specific as almost all markets offering services you can't touch with your own hands and estimate for certain. Our knowledge of web hosting reality is limited only with the information the web hosting companies were good enough (agree) to share with the publicity.
Are you sure that you are buying the quality web hosting plan from a reliable web hosting company every time you order hosting plan for you next web project? I guess no.
In 1970 George Akerlof , a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote the theory of "The Market for Lemons" that established the fundamentals of asymmetrical information theory. This theory explains that "quality is undistinguishable beforehand by the buyer (due to the asymmetry of information), incentives exist for the seller to pass off a low-quality good as a higher-quality one". He developed this theory basing it on the market of horses and used cars, but now we can observe the same situation in the web hosting market.
Let's examine this situation taking the example of bulbs, as we deal with them daily. We don't know how long this or that bulb will work, and exact characteristics of the definite one, do we? We have only statistics and know the average life time of a common bulb. The situation is symmetrical when both buyer and seller operate with the same data.
But if the buyer trusts the statistics while the seller has exact showing about every good, then the asymmetric appears. This may cause the deterioration of product or service.
Ok, let's return to the subject at hand. When a web hosting company proclaims phone support, powerful servers, daily backups, 24/7/365 quality customer service or huge amount of webspace/traffic we should either take it on trust or check it up in our own back.
What do I mean? I mean that you don't really know if the backups are done in a proper way announced number of times until you once come upon it. What is meant under "powerful servers" or "quality support", if the servers are to be powerful and the support quality by default. Is the customer service really able to solve all your problems at any time they appear or they will only give you a free month for the inconvenience caused?
There are many companies that provide poor service and there are as many companies that offer really quality service and may solve problems which may occur to the site fast and in workmanlike manner. The main problem is that nobody establishes a price in the market according to proclaimed level of service; the price is usually based on traffic, webspace and available hosting features.
But! The solution for web hosts that provide high-level service is in guarantees they give, such as money-back guarantee. Web host seekers may also rely on web hosting forums and reviews, where customers of web hosting companies usually share their practical experience.
Anyway be careful and try to get as much info as possible before ordering web hosting plan for a long period.
By Olga Elizarova (c), ©Copyright B10WH.com 2006
