(PRWEB) December 28, 2007 — www.BroadbandChoices.co.uk today announces the ISP heavy hitters that delivered the most consistent broadband speeds in 2007. Download speed has been an area of much debate in the broadband market throughout 2007, with many ISPs simply not delivering the promised download performance.

A report by consumer group, Which? earlier this year found a "huge" gap between publicised broadband speeds and what most users actually received, with the average speed "enjoyed" by customers on 8Mb packages being as low as 2.7Mb.

Michael Phillips, product director at BroadbandChoices.co.uk, said: "Connections get degraded the further away they are from the BT exchange. Factors like this and poor quality wiring significantly degrade broadband connections and reduce the available speed. It's simply not possible for every customer to get the advertised speed. Our speed test show that, on average, customers only receive 35 per cent of the promised speed."

Source:

BroadbandChoices.co.uk Reveals 2007 Broadband Speed Test Award Winners

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Any business of almost any kind needs to be on the internet today to be taken seriously. While this is just another cost of business lost in the huge budgets of major companies, for a small business it may represent a major expense and one that must be carefully allocated as economically as possible. One way to decrease website expense is the use of web hosting.

The advantages of web hosting can be substantial for the small or medium size business, but there are also some risks and disadvantages to consider. By definition, web hosting involves a third party in your business, so you want to choose very carefully. Have a less than reputable or ethical hosting company could cause you problems.

For example, one thrifty form of web hosting is the shared domain, where the provider partitions a server into sections and companies have their own little piece of the server with a unique name, but really part of one domain. These tend to be the least expensive, and cost is one of the primary advantages of web hosting, and as such a boon to small, cash-poor companies and new start ups.

The disadvantage is that you have no control over who is sharing that space with you. If one of the other users is a crook running a scam, or an unethical marketer spewing e-mail spam to unhappy victims, the whole domain may be blacklisted or blocked by others. You could be perfectly ethical and honest, but your site would be labeled as undesirable along with the real violators. Be very careful about rules domain providers make and how well they enforce them.

Another of the advantages of web hosting is a saving in the costs of hardware, equipment, and its maintenance. Since the hosting company has the servers and will be responsible for repair and replacement, you don’t have to bother or put out the cash. The disadvantage is that if they are slow with repairs or don’t upgrade outdated equipment your site may bog down or even go offline.

There are advantages of web hosting in reducing staff costs as well. You don’t need to hire someone to manage the equipment or trouble shoot problems when they occur. IT support personnel do not come cheap, so this can be a huge savings to the smaller company. The disadvantage is no control at all over the qualifications of the people the hosting company does hire, and uncertainty about how much of the time they will be available or how fast they will respond.

A business will need to consider whether or not the advantages of web hosting currently outweigh the disadvantages. At some point, it may be preferable and more feasible to host and maintain a site internally, but in the beginning, web hosting can mean the difference in being able to have a web presence or not, and should at least be considered.

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The Fantastico installer is not very popular yet but it is installed on more than 10,000 servers around the globe. Here is a brief overview of the features of this tool. Let us see how it is different from other such tools and what are its short comings.

First of all, this software will spare you aggravation and expense by allowing you to make web hosting automatic. It does this by installing software applications on your server using scripts. This is a library of scripts, created by a third-party, which lets you plug in any software application available to the system. Ordinarily this would take hours. However, this software will allow your computer to take about a minute to install through your control panel.

Most web hosts offer this utility free of charge, but you generally have to install it prior to use. The majority of Fantastico Installer programs are from open source, at this time they number around forty (with a few commercial products also available in certain cases). These programs have a great appeal to those who like to do things on their own, and who want greater site control in their own hands even though they don’t control the server that hosts their site.

What are the programs available via the Fantastico Installer and its php scripts? They run the gamut from blog programs, content management, customer relationship software and discussion boards to e-commerce programs, guestbooks, mailing lists, and site-builders. These tools can be installed by users with little- to no- technical knowledge or expertise with web servers, making for a more robust website.

One issue that must be avoided is out of date scripts. Not all web hosts regularly update their scripts, so your program may be outdated. Sometimes security flaws are present in early releases, then fixed in later versions or releases. This can result in the presence of security flaws that remain in the older version you may be using. Additionally, even the most current versions may not be properly configured to optimize security, which can result in opportunities for hackers or spammers.

The Fantastico installer can take your basic vanilla webpage and make it look like it was designed by a professional.

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