Which hosting services do you like and why?

[multimediocrity]

I'm curious which hosting services you guys use, and why you chose to use them. I know of a few reputable services which I like for different reasons.

Site5 (http://www.site5.com/in.php?id=58982) is good because they offer cheap hosting with many free technologies and have 24/7 live support.

1and1 (http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=21378735) is good because their interface is very easy to use and they also offer affordable hosting. They have good support as well.

What do you use and why? Are there any horror stories out there? :)

[JunkMale]

Compared to my unlimited - web , bandwidth web host service, site5 is bloody expensive as cheap reliable professional hosting goes. The charges work out to abour Double what I pay and I pay £30 all in, including domain name.

1and1 like all the bigger hosting companies seem to offer you a good deal but even these prices quoted are expensive and given that 1and1 have cap limits, what do they charge for going over your cap limit?

I would shop around more because IMHO you will find a cheaper web host than these offerings. Cheap does not mean that your not getting service or support. It is a popular misconception that you have to pay to get service. Utter rubbish. Some shell companies offer same or better services from bulk host services which these companies like 1and1 are very likely to use and cream off a hell of a profit.

====================

Horror stories.... Yes, StreamLine.net (part of Dollamore Ltd) who are a really big Hosting company based in Derby, Derbyshire. They are without a doubt a bunch of robbing b@*****s charged me £79 for a two year contract. 3 months in to the deal the site gets wiped out from a serverside attack.

I found from what logs remained that the attack came from an american IP address block and the web host was offering at the time a free 3 months deal as a trial and it was in that period that the site got trashed.

The version of PHP that they told me that they were running was a very bug ridden release and they stated that they had no intention of upgrading to PHP5 despite pointing out to them that in the period when the site was hacked, I had no ISP as my broadband had been cut off by my ISP who was demanding money that they were not entitled to.

When I eventually got online again, I found that the issues did not stop. Logging in to the FTP side of the service, found that the htdocs folder had been deleted completely and I had not got enough root permissions to make the directory. Despite stating this clearly to the morons, they told me to make a folder and that the problem was not theirs to deal with and the techs tried to blame me for the problem by claiming that I deleted the folder. Considering I never had permissions to make an effing folder, what these cretins failed to see was that I would not have the permissions to delete it.

The person who hacked the server gained root permissions. So this would have been the exploit in PHP4 that was taken advantage of in order to gain root permissions.

I reported them to trading standards authority and they were a complete waste of time, the advice was to write, telling them my right and to ask for a partial refund. The letter got nowhere, I got ignored and Trading standards refused to take any further action because the company had not replied and were using a loop hole to keep hold of the money.

So in simple terms, if your in the UK and looking for a UK web host, give Streamline or any of Dollamores services a wide one. You will be doing yourself a favor.

Oh... did I mention that they tried to take another 2 year payment when renewal was on the horizon? This was despite me informing them 3 months before hand in a recorded delivery letter that we will not be renewing... Bunch of cowboys.

My current host... well were now in to year 2, so that is an indication if any that they are very accommodating and have answered my email requests within minutes, sometimes the reply is instant and they are all personal answers, not computer generated and the person uses their real name, so theirs a data trail.

As for who they are... :D, if you want to buy some reliable UK based hosting space, talk to me.

As for StreamLine.net, unless they refund me the full £79, I will take every opportunity to minimize their revenues and potential new customers.

[thewebhostingdi]

Hi,

Before searching the web hosting company first need to identify the basic requirement. Now, while searching the web hosting company need to take care of these points:

-> 24/7/365 days support on mail and chat
-> Easy TOS
-> High speed server with greatest up time
-> 90 days money back guarantee
-> affordable price with required disk space and bandwidth.

I have found all these features in Accu Web Hosting (http://www.accuwebhosting.com). Hence, I always recommend it.

[rsaw3rd]

Startlogic has seemed to do well for myself, I am currently running a local online newspaper and have found their affiliate program to be a big plus as well. Startlogic offers $100.00 payment for each refferal that buys hosting, they also offer unlimited bandwidth

[JPnyc]

I was a customer of startlogic for about a month. The only positive thing I can say about them is that they did refund my money, prorated of course. My site was down as much as it was up, anything over 30 users on line and it was gone. If you plan on calling into customer support, eat a large meal first, or you may starve to death before they answer. Stay away.

[aj_nsc]

Can't say enough good things about ICDsoft.com - especially they're unbelievable 24/7/365 support (most questions are literally answered within 10 minutes). Some of the support staff (not all) will even offer you help to debug custom (built by you) server-side scripts. Check them out, they're a fantastic service with >99.9% uptime across all their servers and very reasonably priced in my opinion.

[svidgen]

I started a shared hosting plan with Micfo (http://micfo.com) for thepointless.com (http://thepointless.com) several years back because they had a 1-year-free deal. In the past year or two, I decided to spring for a VPS on which to host svidgen.com (http://svidgen.com), midbit.com (http://midbit.com), and other misc. personal projects.

Having been on a shared host with Micfo for several years, and having experienced better performance out of that server and better service and uptime than any of my previous hosting providers, I decided to try their VPS. I got a decent deal: about $34/month for a 10GB HD and ... 256MB RAM (I think)--and their deals have gotten better since I signed up. So far, I've experience great uptime and performance on the VPS. The support team was also quick to respond to my request for the name of and installing of the CentOS package manager (which is apparently yum (which I really kind of like)).

Like all of my previous hosting providers, there is some unavoidable downtime (occasional network issues) and incidents with bad reps. But, overall, they've far surpassed the expectations my previous hosting providers have set ...

Uptime on my VPS: 223 days.

It seems as though I can no longer SSH into the shared box--probably some ruffians broke that privilege. Back when I could, I think I was seeing an average of around 3 or 4 months between reboots--most of which I didn't notice until finding a low uptime number ...

[opifex]

I use several different "reseller hosting" packages... 1 per company, 1 company per country (actual physical location of the server). I do this so I can offer a backup server to my bigger accounts and so that I don't have to worry about server space or in some cases stupid regulations (i.e. distribution of strong cryptographic materials or services from US and other Wassnaar Agreement countries... these servers are in other countries). I do have enough clients to be able to do this without eating into the profit so it works out OK. You can find 30GB reseller packages around the globe starting at around $US90/year. You can host a lot of sites in 30GB. The only BIG disappointments I've had have been with HostGator and The Planet in the US, Banana Hosting in th UK and Absolight in France but these were a few years ago and they might be just fine now. At the moment I use servers in the US, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Russia and India. They are either 30GB or 50GB with cPanel and WHM at a total cost of about $US800 per year... the cost of 6 medium size clients. To me it's worth it to have redundancy and flexibility.

As far as all the 99.9% UPTIME that almost everybody declares... there's no such animal, just do the math. And read the user agreements/contacts... nobody will honor the uptime claims with important things like paying for losses incurred by the downtime or giving you a refund. So don't expect that from anybody! Servers do go down and sometimes there might be connectivity problems to a server even though the server is functioning properly... have some sort of redundancy if your sites are important!

[The Java Viking]

After trying several I'm currently with rimuhosting.com. The think I really liked with them was that I got a virtual linux where I have full control over what i install of SW on it. Currently I run Apache, Tomcat and MySQL on the server. No conflicts with other sites.

[svidgen]

The think I really liked with them was that I got a virtual linux where I have full control over what i install of SW on it ...
Standard VPS ...

[jtstone09]

I like Godaddy for Domain names (Just love their DNS control panel) and then Hostgator for the hosting.

Hostgator is value priced and provides 24/7 tech support (including CHAT).

[ssystems]

Startlogic has seemed to do well for myself, I am currently running a local online newspaper and have found their affiliate program to be a big plus as well. Startlogic offers $100.00 payment for each refferal that buys hosting, they also offer unlimited bandwidth

Got a couple of clients behind SL. VDeck usually fails on me (50%) specially with their file manager (beta). My clients' sites usually go down. I don't even care now as to why as their cs don't know s**t. <<< Is that allowed? Logs didn't do any good as well. Got a couple of clients on stablehost, 1and1, bluehost, godaddy, softsyshosting, discountasp, and many more and so far what they got in common is you have to know what you're doing. If things came up and you have to contact their cs and when you feel that the person on the line is obviously guessing hangup and try again. (Well this apply to any cs call anyway). :)

[multimediocrity]

GoDaddy seems to be the most popular, and the most advertised. They don't seem to have the best service or price, though, and I hear many people complain about the complexity of their system. I think it's ideal for many developers.

[Inside the Webb]

I have to say HostGator is my personal favorite, just because of how responsive they are and how great their hosting services are. They provide unlimited e-mails and subdomains, plus a huge amount of disk space and bandwidth. Plus they're really, really cheap for how much you get for their hosting packages.

[wdkreech]

I like Godaddy for Domain names (Just love their DNS control panel) and then Hostgator for the hosting.

Hostgator is value priced and provides 24/7 tech support (including CHAT).

sometimes i am thinking of buying domains at GoDaddy, it's just that there are many offers along the way. It's like buying more than a domain name.. :confused:

[HostColor]

Well, there are plenty of good hosts and many of them are local companies, popular in their own countries or regions only. When anyone is searching for web hosting the most important thing is to have a list of requirements, not to follow the marketing tricks... especially in Shared Hosting.

[Shorts]

Personally used to use Colossalhost, although they left a bad taste in my mouth as they were extremely rude to my girlfriend (she's a quazi web developer who I had suggested getting a site there). Also have used 1and1, however now everything is done through Rackspace Cloud (http://www.rackspacecloud.com/) (formerly known as Mosso) which gives me the freedom that I like.

You setup a cloud host with the operating system of choice (CentOs here) and then do everything backend. Also a good way to work on your LAMP skills. Have perl\mysql setup as well as awstats, iRedMail, and more. They have great tutorials. Also it's all scalable, if your site starts doing more traffic you just up the ram, the server I just setup is 1.5 cents an hour plus cost of bandwidth usage. They have hosting too but that I think is $100 a month and I don't have that kind of money.

[aysha]

I like the http://www.thewebpole.com/ .This is the reputable web hosting company.It provides the three hosting packages which has more features & also provides some free service .It provides the guidance also.

[gewes]

If you want our site in the search engines have a good ranking, web site domain name is a very important factor.

[multimediocrity]

Do some hosting companies have better SEO than others?

[6StringGeek]

I have been using GoDaddy for 5 years with no issues. My site has never had any downtime that I am aware of, and I pay about 5 bucks/month.

The main complaint I have is trying to find your way around their website. If you don't know what you're doing you could end up paying for something that they already offer for free with your hosted account (webmail for example).

[wh666-666]

The only paid service I use or recommend is lunarpages ....

However most of the time, free hosts are as good as, or better than paid hosts ...

[franklinn]

It is a interesting sharing.............

[multimediocrity]

Hmm... do you get all the same stuff with a free host?

[JunkMale]

Compared to my unlimited - web , bandwidth web host service, site5 is bloody expensive as cheap reliable professional hosting goes. The charges work out to abour Double what I pay and I pay £30 all in, including domain name.

1and1 like all the bigger hosting companies seem to offer you a good deal but even these prices quoted are expensive and given that 1and1 have cap limits, what do they charge for going over your cap limit?

I would shop around more because IMHO you will find a cheaper web host than these offerings. Cheap does not mean that your not getting service or support. It is a popular misconception that you have to pay to get service. Utter rubbish. Some shell companies offer same or better services from bulk host services which these companies like 1and1 are very likely to use and cream off a hell of a profit.

====================

Horror stories.... Yes, StreamLine.net (part of Dollamore Ltd) who are a really big Hosting company based in Derby, Derbyshire. They are without a doubt a bunch of robbing b@*****s charged me £79 for a two year contract. 3 months in to the deal the site gets wiped out from a serverside attack.

I found from what logs remained that the attack came from an american IP address block and the web host was offering at the time a free 3 months deal as a trial and it was in that period that the site got trashed.

The version of PHP that they told me that they were running was a very bug ridden release and they stated that they had no intention of upgrading to PHP5 despite pointing out to them that in the period when the site was hacked, I had no ISP as my broadband had been cut off by my ISP who was demanding money that they were not entitled to.

When I eventually got online again, I found that the issues did not stop. Logging in to the FTP side of the service, found that the htdocs folder had been deleted completely and I had not got enough root permissions to make the directory. Despite stating this clearly to the morons, they told me to make a folder and that the problem was not theirs to deal with and the techs tried to blame me for the problem by claiming that I deleted the folder. Considering I never had permissions to make an effing folder, what these cretins failed to see was that I would not have the permissions to delete it.

The person who hacked the server gained root permissions. So this would have been the exploit in PHP4 that was taken advantage of in order to gain root permissions.

I reported them to trading standards authority and they were a complete waste of time, the advice was to write, telling them my right and to ask for a partial refund. The letter got nowhere, I got ignored and Trading standards refused to take any further action because the company had not replied and were using a loop hole to keep hold of the money.

So in simple terms, if your in the UK and looking for a UK web host, give Streamline or any of Dollamores services a wide one. You will be doing yourself a favor.

Oh... did I mention that they tried to take another 2 year payment when renewal was on the horizon? This was despite me informing them 3 months before hand in a recorded delivery letter that we will not be renewing... Bunch of cowboys.

My current host... well were now in to year 2, so that is an indication if any that they are very accommodating and have answered my email requests within minutes, sometimes the reply is instant and they are all personal answers, not computer generated and the person uses their real name, so theirs a data trail.

As for who they are... :D, if you want to buy some reliable UK based hosting space, talk to me.

As for StreamLine.net, unless they refund me the full £79, I will take every opportunity to minimize their revenues and potential new customers.

ALSO ADD....

Fasthosts.

Not sure which way around this went but its either Dollamore bought them out or Fasthosts bought out Dollamore. Eitherway, Fasthosts are just as bad as the rest of the money grabbing shysters.

[multimediocrity]

Oh, so IMHO means "in my honest opinion". I just Googled it. Your using it just pushed me over the "what IS that" threshold to the "I'm looking it up" domain.

Anyway, I've heard quite a few horror stories myself. It seems like some hosting companies will try to take advantage of the ones who don't know what they're doing. For example, I heard about a farmer who wanted a website and was paying about $125 a month for hosting. All they had was a small, simple website but I guess the people who sold it to them told them they needed much more than necessary. You can get a whole year of hosting for less than that.

[JunkMale]

I have been using GoDaddy for 5 years with no issues. My site has never had any downtime that I am aware of, and I pay about 5 bucks/month.

The main complaint I have is trying to find your way around their website. If you don't know what you're doing you could end up paying for something that they already offer for free with your hosted account (webmail for example).

Yeah! You try leaving them and see what *ollocks you have to put up with. A friend went with them and unfortunately he was killed in a car accident. His father informed them that the account needed stopping and what did they do? Just like AOL did to another friend who died several years ago, they charged his card TWICE!

My advice to anyone dealing with companies that automatically help themselves to your account is to time the contract end to coincide with a letter informing them that you no longer want the services, change bank cards and cancel direct debits, etc. and then see just how much they try to take from you and threaten you over money they say you owe and that you have not informed them.

When I was an NTL customer, I had a situation where I was overcharged and I had enough and handed a letter in person to the customer services desk which was written in red ink on canary yellow paper. Something you may not immediately understand but it was designed to be "Memorable" and it paid off when I had a court summons land on my door step for money I didn't owe. They had ignored my request to cancel the contract as I had completed the 12 months. I went back to customer services, queued for ages and in front of a queue of about 80 people, showed them up for the wasters they were.

They had not done anything with my letter, I could see it at the bottom of the customer services front counter in tray. The look on the womans face was a picture when I pointed to it and reminded her that I handed to her a canary yellow piece of A4 paper with bright red writing on it. Wish I had a camera and it got a number of mutterings and comments like "Glad I'm not the only one"

Seems anything internet based is geared to ripping you off, and thats just the ISP's before you get to any of the Nigerian scammers online.

[multimediocrity]

The main complaint I have is trying to find your way around their website. If you don't know what you're doing you could end up paying for something that they already offer for free with your hosted account (webmail for example).

True. It seems like that's my main complaint too. Their product works, but you need to call support when it involves even the most basic backend move, such as getting my FTP information. I think the admin panel could definitely use some retooling.

[DeveloperBill]

I've hosted several sites at 100webspace.com and been very satisfied. You can get a FREE account with a banner ad at the top of your page and a basic, limited plan without the banner is $11.88 per year. A good plan which can host 5 domains is $35.40 per year. Email tech support is very responsive and the control panel includes anything I have needed.

[adumpaul]

SEO is the process of making web pages easy to findand easy to categorize.In SEO, there are two important aspects which is crucial to any SEO campaign. These are the on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO involves a number of techniques which is aimed to make a website more “search engine friendly”, while off-page SEO are those techniques which involves getting links from other websites as well as techniques which are aimed to build-up a website’s reputation in their own industry.

[DeveloperBill]

SEO is the process of making web pages easy to findand easy to categorize.In SEO, there are two important aspects which is crucial to any SEO campaign. These are the on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO involves a number of techniques which is aimed to make a website more “search engine friendly”, while off-page SEO are those techniques which involves getting links from other websites as well as techniques which are aimed to build-up a website’s reputation in their own industry.

How may I ask is this related to the thread?

[franklinn]

i use . TheWebPole.com (http://www.thewebpole.com/) I must say, it is VERY impressive and reliable thus far. It is also very cheap, and you get he hosting for free when you sign up for domains.

Here are some of the features:
UNLIMITED Hosting Space
UNLIMITED Site Bandwidth
Host UNLIMITED Domains
Unlimited Pop / Imap Email Accounts
SSH Access (Secure Shell)
SSL, FTP, Stats
CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MYSQL
Front Page Extensions
Free hosting Forever
Free Site Builder
Best Support in the Industry
Domain comes with hosting
Only $7 / month.

[daman200]

I actually like to use Bluehost.com (http://www.bluehost.com/track/onemorepayday) they have unlimited domains and unlimted space for only 3.95 a month. You cant beat that with 24/7 support. All my websites are hosted there. They and hostmonster are the same company and both are great

[eUKhost]

Before choosing any web hosting company, people should not forget to read the TOS and SLA of the company. There are many restrictive things you are not informed about before signing up with them. The TOS and SLA helps you to avoid future problems. Secondly, one should always opt for a company which is available 24/7 for you through multiple channels. Support is the most important thing for any business in a hard time.