Resellers are much like regular hosts, except they buy a block of shared hosting from a service provider and then sell that block to their customers.
Many resellers start off by using a control panel to host domains and customers. Web Host Manager (WHM), a subset of CPanel, enables anybody with point and click precision to become a reseller. (See »Webhosting FAQ »What is a Control Panel?)
If a reseller offers good service at a good value, you will gain customers and experience. A reseller has a good opportunity to gain experience hosting a limited number of customers. Once you get to a certain level, you will want to move up to a dedicated server.
Who are they?
Resellers are usually commonplace people- your 18 year old on the block wanting to venture into the complex and greedy world of hosting, to your 72 year old great-grandfather looking for an extra source of easy income. Their experience with hosting varies widely, from zero to usually mediocre.
Advantages
The big advantage to a reseller is that they're usually magnitudes cheaper than the actual hosting company. The reseller deals with the physical host (which is more expensive), and you deal with the reseller. You may also get individual attention tailored to your needs, depending on the host.
Disadvantages
Since the reseller is often the third in line from the actual machine, liability for uptime and server maintenance is often not directly in their hands. Experience in fixing problems may not be their forte.
A word of warning
Resellers which have extremely cheap plans are also infamous for being Fly By Night hosts which mock up hosting plans, take money, offer service for a short term... and then proceed to withdraw a large amount of money and "fly away at night" unexpectedly. In case you have to move to another provider, keep a backup of your site.
If you're curious about a host, post about it in our forums, and the regulars should be able to tell you more about the host in question.
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by devrandom  edited by big greg
last modified: 2006-02-25 13:53:52 |
