I'm in Australia and have been using a host with servers in the USA, because the price is way cheaper than Australian hosts offer.

I've been happy with the service and download speed and can't see any difference in general use between my sites and ones (probably) hosted in Australia, although I haven't bothered to run speed tests.

I've been wondering if there's any practical significance in the geographical separation of the server and the web user trying to download it? Is a server 500 miles away going to be noticeably faster in general use than one 10,000 miles away?

There's also the problem that just because I'm using an Australian host it doesn't necessarily mean that their servers are in Australia. They could be in the USA too, or anywhere else. If a host doesn't specify in its info where its server is, is there any easy way of identifying the location of the server?

I've been wondering if there's any practical significance in the geographical separation of the server and the web user trying to download it?

Technically there will be a measurable difference, but for general website hosting, it shouldn't make much if any practical difference.

If a host doesn't specify in its info where its server is, is there any easy way of identifying the location of the server?

You can try to find out where the server's IP is located, but you'll likely only know the company's website, which can very well be hosted in Australia, not in the US like their other sites.

Just ask the host. It doesn't make any sense for them to lie as you'll be able to verify it after you get the account anyway.

I agree with ldcdc.

I think location of servers does not affect much on the service & support of that company but there might be a minor difference in the uptime. On other hand If your server is based locally I think it shall be convenient to you to contact them locally and obviously you can get resolve your problem earliest.

Of cuz it matters, if you buy a package from a host at China, and you are at U.S, you will experience real slow connection; but if you are within China, you will feel it fine.

hi all,

there should not be any noticable differences, however if the company does not provide 24*7 support it can be a bit of a issue, what with the time zone differences.

Yes, Ashish. In my opinion, one should go for reliable and reputed hosting companies and I think you should check for 24*7 tech support, 24*7 chat/phone support along with software provided as it is the issue for time zone differences and which in turns to quality, reliable services and certainly customer satisfaction.

There is a small diffrence, for example there might be a small amount of resistance in the internet wire

hmmm.
AUSTRALIAN HOSTS JUST well and truly suck, EVERY one of them charges a lot for little, eg 5mb space 500mb bandwidth and all this for a small fee of 7.95(sarcasm).
all australian people should defnitely use US, or other hosts,
ive never seen a cheap oz host, and i live there.

The closer you are to the server the faster the data reaches you generally. Now the question to ask yourself is... Where are your customers located? You want your customers to be as close to your site as possible. Accordingly if your target audience is in the USA then you should use a host that has you on a server in the USA as well.

This does not mean that you or your customers will suffer significantly if the host uses a server located in another continent. If the webhost has good peering then wherever they are located will have a neglible effect on your site's performance. Leaving other issues regarding sales/support which may require some scheduling for optium response. Server proximity is usually only a concern for gaming intranet, and/or development websites where speed is a crucial factor.

Originally Posted by extermin8tor

hmmm.
AUSTRALIAN HOSTS JUST well and truly suck, EVERY one of them charges a lot for little, eg 5mb space 500mb bandwidth and all this for a small fee of 7.95(sarcasm).
all australian people should defnitely use US, or other hosts,
ive never seen a cheap oz host, and i live there.

"and i live there"? Shouldn't that be you live here.
http://www.mdwebhosting.com.au/webhosting/

$9.90/month
2.5gig space
50gig bandwidth/month

... it's all there... I don't see that as bad.

wel again ... i dont really think that there is a lot of dfference in speeds... a lot of hosts have got their servers located in the US and still do business in european countries but yeah target market is a important consideration.. amybe right now you should just think of getting a local host and then once you wish to cater to international customers as well.. switch your service...

Originally Posted by extermin8tor

ive never seen a cheap oz host, and i live there.

Really?! Your location says 'MARS!!'.

Originally Posted by Miki

Really?! Your location says 'MARS!!'.

Mars is a colony of Australia.

It's surface isn't much different to the centre of Australia, except the beer is a lot colder at surface temperature on Mars. That's why we colonised it!