Web Hosting, your preferences

[mairving]

I have unstickied this thread from the top since I felt like the info might be a bit dated.

What I would like to do is for people to list the following:

The host that you use:
What you think about your host:
If you recommend them to others:

What I don't want this thread to become is a rant on bad hosts. I also don't want it to be a place for people that host sites to tell about how great they are. Just really want personal experience with hosts. Keep it short if you can as well.

[mairving]

I use Hosting Matters for sites that I have that don't have a dedicated server.

Hosting Matters is a great host. They don't offer the cheapest plans but offer great and speedy support. I have submitted requests at 2 in the morning before and have had a response back within a few minutes.

Would and have recommended them to others.

[mjatas]

I use Look Easyhosting. A little expensive, but never had any problems and very fast and reliable. I suggest you talk to them. I think they're only available for Canada though. www.easyhosting.com

[catacon]

I use Uzipp and they are good. They have reasonable prices and good service. They offer a lot for just a little mony. They have a wide range of plans and prices, which is nice. I would reccomend them to anyone.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by mairving I also don't want it to be a place for people that host sites to tell about how great they are.

Not trying to toot my own horn, but this seems appropriate to share.

A buddy and myself have a server in a datacenter and host websites. We don't cater to individuals (i.e. people who don't know what an FTP site is) except those which are knowledgeable and wouldn't really require non-server related support. As a result, we can keep our prices very low. We also only advertise by word of mouth (another way we keep prices low).

If you would like to know more, you can PM me.

[Zhukov]

I use lunarpages. There price is fair/good, and features are abundant. Customer service is also good, but I haven’t really had any problems.

They have even added features since I've been a customer, and no price raise.

[catacon]

This is the one my robotics team uses. Seems all right.

http://www.ixwebhosting.com/

[mairving]

Originally Posted by faulkner132 Not trying to toot my own horn, but this seems appropriate to share. A buddy and myself have a server in a datacenter and host websites. We don't cater to individuals (i.e. people who don't know what an FTP site is) except those which are knowledgeable and wouldn't really require non-server related support. As a result, we can keep our prices very low. We also only advertise by word of mouth (another way we keep prices low). If you would like to know more, you can PM me.

Okay we will be having a test first, hehe.

You can post your site link if you want. As long as you are upfront about it. The main thing that I want to avoid is someone saying how great their host is and they are that host. That may be okay as long as it isn't overt and you say so.

[faulkner132]

Originally Posted by mairving Okay we will be having a test first, hehe. You can post your site link if you want. As long as you are upfront about it. The main thing that I want to avoid is someone saying how great their host is and they are that host. That may be okay as long as it isn't overt and you say so.

I was waiting for someone to bust my chops (sort of) on this!

A was a bit hesitant to post it, but I figured why not, it is relevant to the topic. I just handle the technical side, my partner handles getting the customers, so I'll leave it at that.

[SpikiestDog2]

I have just started using Bluehost.com The control pannel is very easy to use. And with 10Gigs of space for $7.95/mon, you can't go wrong. They even have good customer support, when I bought my account, I received a confermation email and a call a couple hours later verifying that I bought it and asking if I had any questions. The people are friendly too. I would recomend them.

[ComputerDragon79]

I have a server computer, that I used to use for ftp (i have a domain name). Would it be possible for me to create my own web page using that computer? And if yes, how would I go about doing it?

Note: The computer in question runs win2k3 server.

[kstatefan40]

ComputerDragon79: This might help you. Read through it and you should be able to set up your own web server. http://www.pcmech.com/show/network/690/

As in the other thread, I use Surpasshosting.com and have for about a year and a half now. Their support is fairly good (about 2 hour response time to issues, and actually solve the issues), but the best thing about their service is their feature to price benifit. $6 bucks a month gets you all kinds of space, unlimited databases (a big plus for me), unlimited subdomains, etc. And probably the best part is, in a year and a half, I have not suffered ANY downtime. I recommend them to everyone.

[swp]

I use dreamhost.com

No problems so far, and i can host multiple domains with my hosting account.

[nictrix]

I use servage.net, they are wonderful, been with them over 6 months and never had any downtime, plus they have great customer service, they answer questions very quickly. And its affordable only $7.50/month, if you were to use them, get some extra space by using my coupon code: http://www.servage.net/?coupon=cust11838

If not thats cool too....so check out what they offer and you will be impressed! Oh and I want to add that your server space grows each and everyday...

[Staren]

I get my space from Site5. I have only been with them for about two months, but followed them for about a year before making the switch. Their active forum community makes that easy to do. Each account has its own IP as opposed to cheaper hosts that share an IP accross a server. Not bargin cheap, but still very fair prices.

If you are ready for a multi-domain plan (or just want some room to grow, but arn't ready for that jump to a vps or dedicated server I'd take a look at these guys.

[grcr99]

I really do not know of any "Bad" hosts. I use different hosts for different things. One host I use is http://www.doteasy.com/ which is "FREE" and they give you a lot of space on their server. My site uses some features that are not supported for the "FREE" service so I upload my site to my free space that my high speed road runner gives me on their server. The problem is road runner does not let me use my own domain name so I use doteasy to point to my domain name and then domain forward to road runner so I can use Front Page goodies. So I am actually using two hosts for my situation, but it is totally "FREE".

http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp is also looking pretty good. I just set up a client recently using GODADDY. You can pay month by month with GODADDY or again you can have free hosting if you don't mind GODADDY advertising on your web site.

[mairving]

Originally Posted by grcr99 http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp is also looking pretty good. I just set up a client recently using GODADDY. You can pay month by month with GODADDY or again you can have free hosting if you don't mind GODADDY advertising on your web site.

Personal opinion is that GoDaddy is one of the worst hosts out there. Their support is terrible, you have no access to files, their servers are overloaded and their commercials are bad, hehe.

[kstatefan40]

I second that GoDaddy is aweful for *hosting*. As a customer for a year, they ended up charging me $50 for overages that I didn't have, without notifying me. Support sucked. I still use them for domain (my personal one, at least, I'm now moving to Yahoo for customer accounts.)

[TwoRails]

Anyone use "1&1" ?? Sure see a lot of ads from them claiming they are the best...

[Statica]

Originally Posted by TwoRails Anyone use "1&1" ?? Sure see a lot of ads from them claiming they are the best...

I used them when they brought out a promo for a few years of webhosting for free (it was brought up by someone on PCM) .. and it was just AWWFUL! The control panel was the biggest PITA I've seen!

[TwoRails]

Thanks for the heads up, Statica!

[MrFUrious]

I moved to Yahoo about 8 months ago, and right now I'm really considering moving yet again. When I first started with them the server speed was great, but in the last two or three months it's really dropped down. You know it's getting bad when people on broadband are complaining about numerous time-outs and if often taking 45+ seconds to load forum pages.

Another nit-pick I have with them is that they won't turn on ASPELL on their servers. I changed to a specific forum software because it featured a spellcheck tool and I can't use it.

Tech Support? Don't even bother trying if you're using anything above basic HTML. They offer no support for MySQL, PHP, ASP, Java or any other higher level coding their servers support.

On the plus side, they do have a very generous Standard package. I'm getting 10Gb of storage, 400GB of bandwith and 500 email accounts for $20/month.

Overall I'd probably give them a 3 out of 5. The CP is pretty simple and easy to navigate, and they use myPHPAdmin for database management. The downside is the lack-luster tech support and server speed for PHP applications.

[gary_hendricks]

I use www.8-95.com.

They have the cheapest rates around and their customer service is top-notch.

[Cypher_489]

If you are in the UK, a host I would recommend is www.evohosting.co.uk. Support is top notch and they are quick to reply to any questions or problems you have. They have very good, cheap hosting packages available.

[(51)]

I use SiteGround. $5.00 a month and they responded to two of my tickets within 5 minutes on a Sunday. C-Panel, Fantastico, Webmail, PHPNuke PHPBB, Moodle, WebCalendar, Blogs, etc. already on the server.

[wolfie]

i use 1&1, use it for my redirect on my gamming servers. never had a problem with them, and for $8 a month i get a free website setup too.

[glc]

I've been using www.webaxxs.com for about 8 years now.

EDIT: They went to crap. I'm now using Surpass.

[mtbvert]

here is a little different situation than the ones mentioned above. I am looking to start up a small side business. I would like to reserve a domain name for future development of a website if the business does well. But mainly i would like to use the domain name for email. i.e. rich@mycompanyname.com. What would you recommend i do for this type of usage?

[mairving]

Originally Posted by mtbvert here is a little different situation than the ones mentioned above. I am looking to start up a small side business. I would like to reserve a domain name for future development of a website if the business does well. But mainly i would like to use the domain name for email. i.e. rich@mycompanyname.com. What would you recommend i do for this type of usage?

When you setup an account at a host, you don't have to have a website. You will be given a certain number of email addresses to begin with that would be emailaddy@yourdomain.com. You can use those with or without a website. Find an available domain name, register it, signup with a host, setup email addresses and you are good to go.

[mtbvert]

thanks for the help, so i would assume that any of the sites recommended above would be sufficient for my needs?