Thanks for the advice everyone.

Find web hosting servers closest to you. If you live in ny, find servers in ny, if you lovein Boston, find Boston servers etc.
That's really good advice, and what I ended up doing. I have set up servers with both Peer1 and Site5, which both have offices and datacenters in Vancouver, where we are based. So far both have been great with support, prices, and speed. I will update this thread with reviews of my experiences with them in case anyone is interested.