I am working on building several art websites and am trying to decide which hosting service to go with. These sites will have lots of images and some video, so one of the main features that I am looking for is speed. I have just about narrowed it down to either hostgator, or a smaller local hosting company. And what I am trying to figure out, is if there is any way to actually see which service would be faster before I commit to any agreements. Hostgator is slightly cheaper and offers more space but the other one has the plus of being a local company. Are the giant hosting companies like hostgator typically faster or slower than smaller local hosting services?

Low cost and high speed does not match GeekGal. There is a saying in the hosting industry that you will get what you pay for. So be careful while selecting your host.

Lots of images and some video mean that the company must support streaming media features. So I can mention SimpleHelix.com. They provide that in their shared plans.
And their prices are low.

Price is always a factor in choosing web hosts. You would be fooling yourself if you told yourself otherwise unless you have lots of money to burn. If you're running a business, I suggest that you weigh the costs of your site being down against the cost of paying a few dollars extra per month for a good web host.
I recommend you to check out Serverpoint.com
This company is really reputable and reliable. They have invested over a quarter of a million dollars into building the most redundant and reliable network.

Have a look at Webhostgiant.com - they are reliable and have really low cost. I haven't hosted streaming media with them, but I suppose it is quite possible to get good speed from them.

Try to go with a host that DOES NOT oversell, as you may probably run into a few problems with hosting large files. Most of the larger companies do so, and it would be wise to stay away from them!

Since you'll be actually USING the webspace that is provided to you, most of the large oversellers arn't going to do too kindly to you. (Videos and Images take up space)

I would recommend using webhostingpad, they have very fast servers and they are somewhere in the $4/month range for hosting.

^No self advertising.

If you find one let me know.

If you are looking for reliable, qualitative and low cost web hosting, I can suggest you to look at Marblehost.com . It is specializes on delivering shared hosting plan at affordable prices. Moreover, it offers free domain name for life if you buy any hosting plan, Website builder with the help of which you can build a website for about 15 minutes, also you can choose the most suitable template there.

Low cost and stable hosting company ... I can offer you some companies - Santrex.net, Hostdone.com and Ahosting.biz.
Their services are cheap plus resourceful package plans.

Originally Posted by andrei155

^No self advertising.

I'm not the owner

If you go and read the name of the thread again it says "Looking for a really fast low cost host". I've been getting hosting from them for years. Just trying to give someone the great quality experience I've received with the fast low cost they desire.

Our server are monitored 24/7 by a team of admins, we have our server on a 1gbps dedicated bandwidth port to give your site the speed it needs other hosts only offer 100mbps we offer 1,000 mbps. Our hosting starts from $3.95 giving you 60 gb of disk space and 600 gb of bandwidth,
We have been in the hosting industry for over 2 years.

If you wish to sign up, Please go here. http://55host.net

I use NearlyFreeSpeech.NET. It's not the best for users that don't have any experience in web, but you'll eventually get used to the no-frills design. The price is pay-as-you-go - For an average website, don't expect to pay more than $1 a month. And it's fast, too, faster than HostGator and Dreamhost.

The rates are $.01/10MB Bandwidth, $0.01/day for mySQL, $7.50/year for domain, $.01/MB-month for storage.

However, there's no Cron or SSL, but it looks like you won't be needing it.

www.nearlyfreespeech.net

Cheap and speedy hosting may be found at ayksolutions.com - they have various plans for such request. Their speed could be tested here.

Although If you would be so kind to post technical requirements you are looking for - it would be possible to suggest more accurately.

Is that why "Web design" under "solutions" links to your website? You guys are affiliated.

Originally Posted by The-Pixel

I'm not the owner

If you go and read the name of the thread again it says "Looking for a really fast low cost host". I've been getting hosting from them for years. Just trying to give someone the great quality experience I've received with the fast low cost they desire.

That might be fare for the hosting or he took part in web design or development of the web site.