best hosting company?

lcsaeteurn · September 16th, 2008, 02:47 AM

I am looking to open a couple of sites, these sites will contain forums, blogs, and regular html/javascript.

I have been reading up on different hosting services and I was wondering if there are any personal preferences from experience. Here is the list:

dreamhost.com
bluehost.com
hostmonster.com
webhostingpad.com
inmotionhosting.com
starlogic.com
globat.com
1and1.com
brinkster.com

if you can go by experience with these or any other recommended hosting company out there, I would very much appreciate it, later then.

Marc · September 16th, 2008, 11:28 AM

1and1.com - Support wasnt the greatest - took far too long to answer queries and often didnt solve them quickly.

shalom_m · September 16th, 2008, 03:30 PM

I have been using http://dathorn.com for the last 4-5 years.
They do restrict you a bit about the code you may want to use on their shared servers - I think this is an advantage.
Their service and their up-time is great.

Aso · September 16th, 2008, 05:43 PM

Quote:

They do restrict you a bit about the code you may want to use on their shared servers - I think this is an advantage.

Can I ask how that's a bonus?

WESH for me

Great value hosting, really nice people.

WESH-UK · September 16th, 2008, 07:33 PM

As your in the USA, you will probably want an American host, but definately avoid 1and1 as they are now owned by "Schlund" (German investment company) who also own fasthosts..

Serverpoint seem to have a lot of good reviews, dispite the obvious overselling, but cant offer any reviews of them as we've never used them or had any customers say anything about them.

Hostgator is also worth avoiding (Read the vbulletin and VBseo forums as you want to run a forum)

It depends where your audience is though, if your website is targeted at the USA, then definately stick with an American host.

lcsaeteurn · September 16th, 2008, 11:50 PM

it'll most likely be targeted at american audiences, but I've heard horror stories about bluehost crashing and leaving sites down for 3-4 days. Here is the thing, I've heard good and bad things about bluehost and dreamhost. I've heard that they are both overselling, but what exactly are they overselling? And one of my web teachers actually recommended dreamhost to me, she actually went through 1 or 2 other companies that she disliked. But I am reading a lot of bad things about dreamhost on other sites. I guess it's based on experience, which I have been inquiring about dreamhost's services by emailing the support crew, and they have gotten back to me 100% of the time and within 24hrs.

shalom_m · September 17th, 2008, 04:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aso

Can I ask how that's a bonus?

Some Java/C/PHP routines may hog the system, this is unfair to the other partners sharing the server.

Dathorn will advise you about the offending routine and in some cases may offer an alternative.

Marc · September 19th, 2008, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shalom_m

Some Java/C/PHP routines may hog the system, this is unfair to the other partners sharing the server.

Dathorn will advise you about the offending routine and in some cases may offer an alternative.

Although surley if you've got a script that is hogging that much server you should be on a VPS/Dedicated server? Or mabey the host's limits on how much systems resources is too low?

Donny Bahama · October 1st, 2008, 02:56 PM

I've been using 1and1 for a few years and I'm now looking for a new host. Avoid them. Their support is the worst I've ever encountered with any product/service. Primary complaint: they don't read the entire message you send on the initial support request. I go to great trouble to provide all details, then they "skim" the message and fire back some canned response with inapplicable suggestions. And they would have known they were inapplicable had they bothered to read the entire message.

I don't know about you, but my time is too valuable for that B.S.

Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to help me choose my new host

WESH-UK · October 1st, 2008, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donny Bahama

I've been using 1and1 for a few years and I'm now looking for a new host. Avoid them. Their support is the worst I've ever encountered with any product/service. Primary complaint: they don't read the entire message you send on the initial support request. I go to great trouble to provide all details, then they "skim" the message and fire back some canned response with inapplicable suggestions. And they would have known they were inapplicable had they bothered to read the entire message.

I don't know about you, but my time is too valuable for that B.S.

Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to help me choose my new host

Hey Donny

No surprise's then about 1and1

Some things just never change it seems...

As your in the US, I think from the endless reviews and net searching we do weekly, serverpoint.com seem to have some pretty good reviews, and an apparent lack of endless bad reviews..

Either way, be sure to look them up in search engines just to make sure...

We've heard a ton of bad things about hostgator and how quick they are to cut you off the minute you start using anything more than really small amount of server resources (Read over VBseo forums for that one)

Good luck with your search mate

Donny Bahama · October 1st, 2008, 06:36 PM

Wow. Just looked at bluehost. Incredible package - virtually everything is "unlimited". One domain registration/transfer is included at sign-up and renewal is free for as long as you continue to host that domain with them.

Great price at $6.95/month - but you have to prepay 3 years to get it (ouch!). Have yet to find any negative comments on their support, but haven't looked too hard.

I also just found that they're running a promo - $4.95/month prepaid for one year. Google "bluehost $4.95 promo" to find an affiliate offering that promo. I think I'm going for it.

WESH-UK · October 1st, 2008, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donny Bahama

Wow. Just looked at bluehost. Incredible package - virtually everything is "unlimited". One domain registration/transfer is included at sign-up and renewal is free for as long as you continue to host that domain with them.

Great price at $6.95/month - but you have to prepay 3 years to get it (ouch!). Have yet to find any negative comments on their support, but haven't looked too hard.

I also just found that they're running a promo - $4.95/month prepaid for one year. Google "bluehost $4.95 promo" to find an affiliate offering that promo. I think I'm going for it.

Donny

ALWAYS be VERY cautious of any company offering "Unlimited" everything because there WILL be limits.

Read the small print as the limits are normally hidden away in the "Terms and conditions" that people never read.

If you cant find it, ask them first what "The real limits" are.

You really shouldnt be pre-paying for 3 years up front too, thats far too much, what happens if it doesnt work out? Your then out of pocket.

Go with monthly to start with, dont let the silly prices sucker you in....

Cheap does not equal value for money... It just means they have less money to support you with..

Donny Bahama · October 1st, 2008, 08:01 PM

From their sales dept.: "Hi! We do not have a limit for space or transfer, so there's never any overage fees. The limits we have are cpu and process limits to prevent the server from being overloaded. Our cpu limit is 50% CPU, which means you can use 30 cpu seconds for every 60 seconds of real time; and we have a 20 concurrent process/connection limit."

"if the cpu limit is exceeded, then the site goes down temporarily, usually 5-10 min. We also keep a log of the scripts that caused cpu to be exceeded. most cpu errors are due to unoptimized scripts and databases.If it's due to high concurrent traffic, then a vps or dedicated server would be a better option."

Sounds pretty reasonable to me. I don't run a lot of scripts on my site, so I doubt I'll ever have any CPU issues. The 20 concurrent processes/connections concerns me a bit, tho.

Donny Bahama · October 1st, 2008, 08:10 PM

I certainly wouldn't commit to 3 years - for the very reason WESH states. At just under $60 for the first year, though, this seems pretty hard to beat. They offer 24/7 live chat (which is my preferred M.O.) for both sales and support. I can try them out for a year, at which point I'll either be ready for a 2 year prepay or I'll be looking for a new webhost.

WESH-UK · October 1st, 2008, 08:14 PM

Right, so what they are saying is, all clients are allowed to use up to 50% server resources, and if you use the CPU for more than 30 seconds in every 60 seconds, your site is switched off...??

Makes sense about the "unlimited" then because you will never even get close to using anything worthwhile at all with restrictions like that in place.

Shared servers where everybody is allowed 50% CPU sounds like a plan for disaster...

Why cant companies just lay things out nice and simple instead of saying "unlimited everything.. but all these other things come into play"

Customers wont know how much CPU time their scripts are using and will only ever have the host's word on it (Often AFTER the website has been shut down)

Why cant they all just sell what can realistically be provided instead of all the sales BS...

Personally mate, if I was looking for US based hosting, I'd avoid that one like it was a plague,dont be suckered in buy the fancy numbers as soooo many have over the years...

Definately NEVER pay 3 yrs up front.. Dont even go yearly, go monthly, look at the money in terms of "How much of my time will it cost ME to deal with crappy hosting and move everything again..."

So what if they might be $20-$50 cheaper than others, like i said mate, cheap does NOT equal value for money.

pagerss · October 1st, 2008, 08:14 PM

May be most of you don't like 1and1 because you never use Ipower.
The worst hosting company.
I like bluehost and dreamhost

Donny Bahama · October 1st, 2008, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WESH-UK

Dont even go yearly, go monthly, look at the money in terms of "How much of my time will it cost ME to deal with crappy hosting and move everything again..."

The problem with that is that when you go monthly, a setup fee is usually charged, and by the time you tack that on (and maybe even factor in a promo), you can get a year for what the first 3 months would otherwise cost you. At least that's the way most of the big boys play it. I could look at the smaller ones, but the monthly rates are way more expensive, and I'm very, very poor right now.

Hunter · October 2nd, 2008, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pagerss

May be most of you don't like 1and1 because you never use Ipower.
The worst hosting company.
I like bluehost and dreamhost

Bluehost, hostgator, hqhost and dreamhost are reliable companies, their services are resourceful and you don't need to trouble about losing database because of poor downtime.

WESH-UK · October 2nd, 2008, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunter

Bluehost, hostgator, hqhost and dreamhost are reliable companies, their services are resourceful and you don't need to trouble about losing database because of poor downtime.

Take hostgator off your list... Go read over the forums at VBseo.com and you will see that from what their customers are saying, there getting shut off for resource usage running VBseo, which actually hardly use's anything at all.

VBseo is very well written and is NOT resource intensive at all..

Some examples:
http://www.vbseo.com/f77/my-site-has...n-twice-21041/
http://www.vbseo.com/f77/forum-down-due-seo-load-25371/
http://www.vbseo.com/f4/host-gator-j...account-19417/

WESH-UK · October 4th, 2008, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EasycPanelHost

EasycPanelHost.com should also be added to top hosting companies as well

24x7 Fast Support

Why? Because you spam all the hosting forums with your "Cheapest on the internet" messages?