Does Local Hosting Really Matter?

Local Hosting Overview

You've probably heard that the location of your hosting company really makes a difference. But, how true is this statement? Does the location of a hosting company really matter that much? As it turns out, it’s all a matter of how you look at it.

Lower Latency – Local Hosting

A measurement of how fast data can travel from its source to its destination. Therefore, a data center located closest to visitors provide high-performance. The shorter distance travel by data to reach website visitor would lower latency and ultimately website loads faster.

Local Hosting: Fewer Hops and Jumps

Remember play hopscotch when you were a kid? Remember how much faster it was to jump a few squares and wind up on the other side of the game? Well, that’s kind of how hosting works. The closer a hosting location is, the less time it takes data to travel. So, a site that’s hosted with a local hosting company may load a bit faster than a site that’s located on the other side of the world.

From this perspective, it makes a good amount of sense to host with a locally based company. However, there are other things to consider that may not have anything to do with location. Let’s take a deeper look at the whole “closer is better” thing.

Local Hosting: Weather Matters

If you are located in the Philippines, choosing a hosting company based in the Philippines may not make very good sense. Why not? The Philippines is susceptible to all kinds of natural weather disasters that can cause a lot of damage to hosting companies. In short: consider the weather where a hosting company is located.

You might find the best hosting company in the world located right in the middle of an area that attracts fifty hurricanes per month (exaggeration, of course!), but signing up with that company would not even be worth the cheap price. In addition to weather issues, you also have to think about political problems.

Local Hosting: Political Issues

In certain parts of the world, government officials can storm into any office at any time and confiscate any piece of equipment. If you’ve decided to sign up with a company that’s smack in the middle of political struggle, the server space your renting out might not exist in a few days or hours. As you can see, the political landscape of a country really makes a difference in this sense – but in another sense too.

Strewn throughout the media lately has been news of the NSA in the United States (and potentially in Canada) tapping into private or personal data. To many, this fact is a major concern, and it might be something that you’ll want to think about before sending your private data to any country with a setup like the NSA. Then again, that doesn't leave a whole lot of options.

Is there anything else to consider in addition to the physical location of a hosting company?

Local Hosting: The Whole Package Matters

The biggest mistake that website owners make is not realizing that all hosting company physical location. This location must be at the forefront of your mind when choosing a hosting company to sign up with. It's not enough to be located in a stable country or an area that doesn't get too much bad weather, though. You also have to make sure that the hosting company you've chosen has a solid setup.

A hosting company setup should include security, a temperature controlled environment, and a secure roof and floor (you’d be surprised!). It might be hard to obtain this information from all hosting companies, but it never hurts to ask. Of course, you also have to take the time to research the company that you're looking into. All of this might seem like a lot of work just for a hosting company deal, but not choosing the right hosting company is really a disaster waiting to happen.

Local Hosting: Where to Find Details

You can conduct a simple Google search for web hosting reviews and information, but the grit of any good hosting package is with actual stats that are true and not fabricated. For that, you can’t trust a hosting company’s website (no company actually has 99.99% uptime!). Check out SiteGeek.com for real stats about nearly every hosting company under the sun. In addition to stats that you can trust, this site also lets you review any hosting company – good or bad.

Let’s revert back to the original question for a moment. Does locale matter when it comes to your hosting company of choice? The simple answer is: no. It’s not all about location. It’s about every factor that impacts a company including politics, weather, and anything else that you can think of.

Do you have a local hosting company that you love?