Well, one thing that was left out that the very important is the network quality. I am going to quote someone (not sure who): "good, fast, cheap (pick two)". Chris -----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu]On Behalf Of Irwin Lazar Sent: Friday, February 23, 2001 11:41 AM To: 'Eric Gauthier'; 'nanog@merit.edu' Subject: RE: Choosing a Service/Hosting Provider Our consulting practice spends a lot of time on this very issue. I'd rate the top three things that our customers are looking for from SP's are as follows: - Customer Service - a single point of contact, pro-active network management, and fast provisioning. Poor customer service, IMHO, is the single biggest complaint I hear from our customers about their current service providers - Cost - especially considering market slow-downs - Geographic Availability - being able to provide service where its needed and when its needed, via a single point of contact if partnership arrangements are required. I'd also add financial stability as another concern. Companies are very wary about putting their lifeblood onto a service provider's network when that service provider isn't financially stable. Irwin ----- Irwin Lazar - ilazar@tbg.com <mailto:ilazar@tbg.com> Senior Consultant, The Burton Group Office: 703-742-9659 Cell: 703-402-4119 http://www.tbg.com/ "The Ultimate Resource For Network Architects" -----Original Message----- From: Eric Gauthier [mailto:eric@roxanne.org] Sent: Friday, February 23, 2001 11:29 AM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Choosing a Service/Hosting Provider Hello, I'm pretty sure that this question has been picked to death on this list, but I couldn't find a good thread in the nanog archives. If there is one in there, can someone drop me a pointer off-list? Anyways, here is my question: What should people look for when choosing a service or hosting provider? Thanks. Eric