After we have found the correct price ranges, we then look at the services offered. Once this list has been created we can look at other sites on the server and run the trace routes to check for speed and reliability. Reliability is a volatile situation. The same host that had been up for three months straight can easily be put into overdrive on the fourth month leaving them sluggish or even down for any number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks, depending on their upgrade path, if they have a path at all. Options seem to come and go with hosts as technology offers new things, servers are upgraded and changes are made to meet demand.
Tech support seems to fall into the same category as speed and reliability.
The only thing left from the above list is price, which for the most part seems to hold steady if you decided to pre-pay for a year in advance. Luck, seemed to be the most dependable aspect of ending up with a decent host. This of course, is not an acceptable or dependable thing to go by. The next phase was only a matter of time, and it has now begun. Host directories have started to pop up.