best hosting package?

The_KiD · 25 Jul 2006 at 09:23

Hi all a friend of mine has been using a reseller account from Catalyst2 for his hosting and has kindly been giving me my own space on their to host some sites.

However the time has come for me to branch out and get my own hosting and I was wanting opinions from you guys on who you believe is best.

I run several websites, so would need to be able to have at least 5 sub-domains. I use mysql db's and would need to be able to have at least 5 db's.

I would need a minimum of 500mb disk space and at least 5gb monthly transfer rate.

Email addresses I would need about 10, but the more the merrier.

so who do you guys recomend?

I have been looking at using catalyst2 myself and their best option for what I need is:

- 750 MB Disk Space
- 8 GB Monthly Data Transfer
- 100 E-Mail Accounts
- 10 Mailing Lists
- 10 Subdomains
- 10 mySQL Databases
- PHP4, Perl Supported
- Frontpage 2002 Extensions

for £10.56/month

Beansprout · 25 Jul 2006 at 10:04

Take a look at www.ochostreview.co.uk

Al Vallario · 25 Jul 2006 at 10:23

It's going to sound like an awful cliché, but do you need hosting based in the UK? Catalyst2 run a fantastic operation, but ~£10/month could get you a lot in the US market, where the whole hosting market seems to operate on a "stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap" principle.

Have a look at A Small Orange, Site5 and DreamHost — just a few of the more well-known and reputable hosts

Beansprout · 25 Jul 2006 at 11:35

Must admit I was a sceptic about UK hosting until my home broadband connection got upgraded and I started using IMAP.

zetec452 · 25 Jul 2006 at 12:28

I would try and get UK hosting. Generally you will only see 2mb stateside which is rather lame.

OCHostReview is a good site to look at.

I'd recommend taking a look at www.vidahost.com

SpicyDuck · 25 Jul 2006 at 12:31

I recommend Vidahost, too. Great company.

Muncher · 25 Jul 2006 at 13:06

www.register1.net

Goatee · 25 Jul 2006 at 13:38

https://www.register1.net/vds.php

I recommend the VDS Pro package. £99 for 1 year or £198 for 3 years. Tons of storage and bandwidth on fast UK servers

Van Hellseek · 25 Jul 2006 at 13:39

i'm with tsohost (standard package). seems fine so far. :/

5tephen · 25 Jul 2006 at 15:21

Is there much risk involved in setting up business web hosting operations with small 1- or 2-man bands? For some it might get tiring after say 5 years and might want to stop altogether, whereas with bigger companies they're not as likely to disappear off the face of the earth any time soon. While I do always support the small hosting companies and have indeed moved a number of hosting operations to them from large companies, it's just a notion I've always had in the back of my mind

Beansprout · 25 Jul 2006 at 15:43

Most company execs get tired after a few years and move on. Like the Fasthosts founder who netted £40m recently. ie they sell the company to someone else, it doesn't disappear....unless you're looking at the lowest echelon of the business world.....I don't like the way you're vaguely implying things....you can't just "stop altogether" unless you want to "go directly to jail, do not pass go"....

5tephen · 25 Jul 2006 at 16:02

Beansprout said:
Most company execs get tired after a few years and move on. Like the Fasthosts founder who netted £40m recently. ie they sell the company to someone else, it doesn't disappear....unless you're looking at the lowest echelon of the business world.....I don't like the way you're vaguely implying things....you can't just "stop altogether" unless you want to "go directly to jail, do not pass go"....

Sorry for 'implying' anything I was trying to put it as simply as possible without making a long-winded post. A couple of my customers who have asked about my web hosting services were the people who actually mentioned this to me and made me think about it. Anyway the only way for the smaller outfits to expand is to give them more work, which is what I do

I was half-way trying to explain what I meant there but ended up just deleting my text for fear of digging a hole for myself

I'm a one-man band myself (not a web host* but IT-related), but if you provide a good enough service and professional approach people will stick with you and not think of what I wrote in my last post.

*not a webhost - I resell webspace but don't actually own any hosting servers

Beansprout · 25 Jul 2006 at 16:14

5tephen said:
Sorry for 'implying' anything I was trying to put it as simply as possible without making a long-winded post. A couple of my customers who have asked about my web hosting services were the people who actually mentioned this to me and made me think about it. Anyway the only way for the smaller outfits to expand is to give them more work, which is what I do
I was half-way trying to explain what I meant there but ended up just deleting my text for fear of digging a hole for myself I'm a one-man band myself (not a web host* but IT-related), but if you provide a good enough service and professional approach people will stick with you and not think of what I wrote in my last post.

*not a webhost - I resell webspace but don't actually own any hosting servers

Thought so

The concerns are definitely founded but so long as the one man isa sound there's no reason to worry. But I guess that's your point...it's harder to know whether they're sound or not

I'm a two (main; w/extras as needed) man band

5tephen · 25 Jul 2006 at 16:24

Well the one I'm with can't be all that bad because the forums are busy, replies to emails are received within minutes even at weekends, everything has worked to date without problems /*touches plywood*/, so must be sound enough

Beansprout · 25 Jul 2006 at 16:49

Ah good. I think that's the one I posted in defence of

asim · 27 Jul 2006 at 15:28

JonRohan said:
I would try and get UK hosting. Generally you will only see 2mb stateside which is rather lame.

OCHostReview is a good site to look at.

I'd recommend taking a look at www.vidahost.com

I'm looking to purchase a web hosting package aswell. I was wondering if this is actually the case? That US hosting will only provide 2mb.

I'm looking for a UK or US hosting company that will have the ability to handle access from thousands of users while not crippling interms of bandwidth speed. Any ideas on that one? As they always mention monthly bandwidth and space but never how fast the connections are.

zetec452 · 27 Jul 2006 at 16:06

Its not the case that *every* US host you will only get a 2mb download speed. Although the buiser the fibre pipe from the UK to the US gets the worse your speed will be.

If you need a faster website you will require a UK provider.

asim · 27 Jul 2006 at 16:19

JonRohan said:
Its not the case that *every* US host you will only get a 2mb download speed. Although the buiser the fibre pipe from the UK to the US gets the worse your speed will be.

If you need a faster website you will require a UK provider.

But say my website is for the majority of US people to view, then would it not be a better option to go with a US hosting company?

BeatMaster · 27 Jul 2006 at 16:26

asim said:
But say my website is for the majority of US people to view, then would it not be a better option to go with a US hosting company?

Yes

BeatMaster

zetec452 · 27 Jul 2006 at 16:28

asim said:
But say my website is for the majority of US people to view, then would it not be a better option to go with a US hosting company?

Most definitely. If I wanted to run a popular website in Germany I'd look for hosting in Germany.

It goes without saying that you need your website closest to your target audience.