How to choose correctly a provider of streaming?

Question

I´m not asking for a recomendation of a specific streaming service provider. I wonder what aspects must I consider to select the correct one.

I need a transmission provider to a television station (official website), which provides:

• Video and audio streaming.
• Permanent transmition.
• From 50 to 250 concurrent users.
• Just live events, non on-demand

The first aspect is easy: find a provider that includes these features.

The tough aspect is: how to know that one provider is a good choice? Must I search in their forums? Which technical aspects tells me he is reliable?

I think that only asking directly to each provider will give me this answers, but some help (from experienced users) in identifying crucial aspects previously will come in handy.

Answer 1

As James mentionned, one of the most important thing thing is to see how fast they can answer you, and how accurate are their answer, my personnal method is to write to the support/tech department a question about sales, do not write to sales directly!

That way you will have your answer, you will see how fast they can transfer you if you are in the wrong department, and you will have your answers. I've tried writting to sales before and they usually answer faster than technical support, if you have a problem with your host you need to know how fast the tech will answer ;)

Also one good point is to use a hosting that is the nearest of your streaming location and the nearest of your target.

Answer 2

I currently run my own streaming server since none met my demands as a business. But you want to look at how easy it is to contact them and get a live person, and if you can find what clients use them.