Another good idea is to go to a site like http://www.traceroute.org/ and do traceroute's to the host from different places around the globe. That will give you an idea of response times and network layout (i.e. do all connections go through the same uplink, chances are they only have one active uplink then).
Hope that helps,
Alex
--
Gossamer Threads Inc.
Hope that helps,
Alex
--
Gossamer Threads Inc.