[migrantgeek]

Do not host yourself. Find a better provider.

With collocation you'll end up responsible for all of the hardware and still be dependent on remote hands so service could still suck and likely get much worse.

System Administration is hard and unless you have the $$ to pay one full time, rent the HW.

Most hosting companies will suck if you don't have much business with them. I worked for Rackspace years ago and bigger fish always get much more attention.

I do some consulting work now and find myself on calls with Hostway pretty often and they seem to know their stuff. You might check them out.