For those of you new to hosting, and websites in general, all you really have to go by is price / transfer / disk space. Naturally this would bring you to hosting your websites with 1and1 or godaddy. Let me first say you can't put a price on good customer service. Don't believe the hype. As 1TB of transfer for $4 a month may sound great, but its no good if your database server crashes on you every other Request. This was the case I had with goDaddy. Listed below are the reasons I moved my site from goDaddy to Hostmysite.
1 Goddady only gives you 50 concurrent connections to the mySQL database, causing your pages to crash.
Solution. Hostmysite does not limit connections to the mySQL database.
2 Godaddy runs mySQL 4.0.2X which does not support SubSelects.
Solution Hostmysite runs mySQL 5.x which supports all the new goodies
3 Godaddy has two levels of tech support. You get to talk to the ones that dont' know anything, and they relay the message to the ones that do. Basically communication sucks!!
Solution Hostmysite hires good people, and trains them well. Communication Rocks!!!
4. Godaddy does not allow External Database Access. forcing you to use the myLittleadmin tool or PHPmyadmin.
Solution Hostmysite is run by developers so they know the value of managing your databases from external management tools.
5. Godaddy has multpile control panels that are not well integrated
Solution Hostmysite has one control panel to get to everywhere you need to go.
6. Godaddy does not provide you with an external IP address. No way to test your site before you point your domain to their servers.
Solution Hostmysite gives you an External IP.

For those of you considering 1and1 to host your website. be ready for 30 minute hold times, and overseas tech support that speak poor english, plus more server restrictions than godaddy.com. There are entire .NET SQL classes I can't use because of their restrictions.

After you host with hostmysite you will never host anywhere else.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I have had many clients that register domains with GoDaddy, and when I transfore them to HostMySite GoDaddy doesn't like to let go of their domains.

I wasn't going to transfer the domain to HMS, just repoint it to HMS. But now that you meantion that. yeah I think I will go ahead and transfer it just to rub it in to godaddy. We should have a topic on here where developers can vent their opinions about other hosts. It should be parked right under the General Discussions topic. Call it something like "Why Other Hosts Suck". We should also have a section for Adsense discussions. I just setup my first adsense site, and now I am hooked. I just need to buy a VPS plan, and build tons of high traffic websites, and I could easily retire off the income.

I am such a fan of HMS I would proudly replace my programmers wardrobe of plain white 100% cotton T-shirts, with ones that have a HMS logo on them. ( HINT HINT Lou )

I see huge potential in HMS, because they are the only company that manages to provide such knowledgeable and empathetic support and sales while growing so much. If HMS was public, I might invest in them to that extent. I have to say though, that I have never received such dedication or rock solid uptime from a host. Now, when I deal with other companie's tech support (apple, dell), I get very impatient, for HMS has spoiled me with their o-wait, and the only time I am put on hold is if I am being transferred to a specific person who was handling my ticket. And then, it's catchy, interesting holding music, unike another host I had that put awful music on to get me off the phone. I could rant all day about previous hosts, and hosts i've heard about, but I am happy to have found HMS. Now, for the odd stuff in my post:
Does anyone else like HMS's music?
I would like t-shirts [/u]

yeah I like their music tool. I also would invest in them if they were a publicly traded company. They should make a deal with developers. Free T-shirt for each Shared Hosting Refferal. Alot of the other companies are no longer run by developers but by upper management that looks to do nothing more than cut costs, and increase numbers. The problem with this is they start doing stupid things like moving their call centers overseas. I'm sorry, but I want to talk to americans when I call in. HMS is the place to be.

I've been with HMS for a couple years now... I've NEVER had to wait more than 3 rings for someone on tech support to pick up. They're always friendly, very knowledgeable, and most importantly, they get things done. Whenever they say they're going to do something, it happens and in short order. I'm the first to give "constructive criticism", but honestly, I can't imaging ever leaving... unless someone buys them out.

Other hosts really don't appreciate that sort of thing. Trust me on this.

If other hosts don't like the facts, they can change the way they treat their clients. Instead they are using propaganda to get newbies to host with them. Newbies shouldn't have to make the same mistakes I made finding a good host for my websites. There are too many things the other hosts hide from their customers, I just want a way to expose the other hosts and their weaknesses. I wouldn't be all Negative. As sometimes other hosts have faster servers than HMS, but if developers are restricted as to how they can develop the sites, the speed is irrelavent. I would be as Fair and Balaced as FOXNEWS