Hostgator blows. I haver a 1&1 account that I'm happier with, that should tell you something about my experience with HG....(still surprised no one posted a hostgator affil link here yet)
Try this company. They have datacentres spread across the US. You are guaranteed 100% uptime by them and unlimited Class C IP's to host your and/or your clients sites.
I recommend the company MD mentioned also. It's probably the best out there.