Checking out a website hosting company

How to Ping a website to find the speed

To test how fast a website is, you can "Ping" the address yourself. You will need to go into the "Command Prompt" (cmd.exe) where things are a little different than the normal Microsoft Windows that you will be used to.

1. In Microsoft Windows, click the Start button, then click Run
2. You will be presented with a small box, type in cmd and hit your Enter key.
3. A new black window will appear with a flashing prompt.
4. Type in ping followed by the website address, then hit Enter.
5. Example: ping circlecity.co.uk (some sites may require the www.)
6. At this point, your Firewall (e.g. ZoneAlarm or similar) will probably ask if you want to give access to the Ping command?
7. Click Allow but don't click "Remember the setting."
8. You should now see something happening as it attempts to ping the website.
9. When it's finished, it will display the average speed in milliseconds.
10. To close the CMD window, type Exit or click the normal Close Window box.

Typing ping /? (that's ping space forward-slash question-mark) while in the CMD window, will give you a list of all the Ping options, but the standard Ping should be enough for normal usage. You can now compare speeds on different servers. The time in milliseconds should be below 100ms (preferably below 80ms) unless it's in a different country. Happy Pinging!

Finding the name of a server using Tracert

This can be useful to find out if your web hosting company has moved you to a different server. You may start out on a fast server, them be moved to a cheaper and not so reliable server later, without your knowledge.

Using Tracert will follow the path to the server, showing all the steps it takes.

1. Open the CMD window as in the above example.
2. Type in tracert followed by the website address, then hit Enter.
3. Example: tracert circlecity.co.uk (some sites may require the www.)
4. At this point, your Firewall will probably ask if you want to give access to the Tracert command?
5. Click Allow but don't click "Remember the setting."
6. You should now see something happening as it attempts to trace the path to the server.
7. You may have to wait a minute or so, as it tracks though the paths.
8. When it's finished, the last one will be the actual server name of where the website is located.
9. If the Internet is very busy, it may time out, so just try it again later.
10. To close the CMD window, type Exit or click the normal Close Window box.

Don't be surprised about the amount of steps it takes to get to the server, as this is usual to take quite a few. This Tracert command can be useful to see what server you are hosted on, or if you've been moved to another server without you knowing or being told.

Choosing a Website Hosting Company

Check out as many hosting companies as you can to compare options and price. You may want specific languages such as 'Python', which not all hosts have installed on their servers. Some companies provide cheap hosting, but not much support if things go wrong.

Some Hosting Companies are actually what are called 'Resellers' and don't own any servers of their own. They rent servers from someone else and carve them up into about 250+ sites per server, then resold at a huge profit. Not all are crooks, but some will take your money and don't provide any after sales. In general, if a company doesn't offer any Reseller options, then you are *probably* dealing with a reseller who *could* be running it as a one-man-band.

Cheap is not always the best as I have experienced in past years, but don't let me influence you. If you just need a website to share your family photos, then a free site would probably fit your needs, as most Internet Service Providers give you one free gratis.