The following site has everything you'd ever want to know about web hosting in all forms and fashions:
www.webhostingtalk.com
Doing your research is the most important step. If you are looking for reliability, you need a server that sells you bandwidth commitments (commit = you pay per mbps). Plans where you are given say 2000GB transfer a month indicates thats you will be on a shared link and will be fighting with other servers for throughput. Every host oversells shared bandwidth as well for better profits. Cheaper definitely does not mean better in the hosting world. Expect to spend at least $150 a month for decent hardware on a top tier service provider.
Good luck!
Threaded Mode
