RaQ Host, a privately owned Canadian web hosting company specializing in Sun Cobalt RaQ web hosting and server hosting will be opening within the next couple of months. I would like some advice to what services to offer plus I would like to know whether the Server Special we have now is a nice deal :)

Server Special:
Cobalt RaQ4i
256 Megabytes RAM
17 Gigabyte HardDrive
PHP, CGI, ASP, etc.

Webalizer and MySQL installed upon request for Free.

Price: $199.99 USD/month.

Comments:

We have some plans on offering virtual web hosting too and reselling options.

For resellers, we would like to get ideas of what resellers want from a Raq web hosting company, ie. automated control panel, nameservers, etc.

thanks.

Originally posted by RaQ Host

Cobalt RaQ4i
256 Megabytes RAM
17 Gigabyte HardDrive
PHP, CGI, ASP, etc.


What about bandwidth? How much transfer is included?

100 Gigabytes of Bandwidth.

I think the big thing you'll need to do is figure out what you can offer above and beyond places like rackshack. It's hard to beat the $99/mo, so if you're going to charge more, you need to have something the other cheap places don't.

Josh

If you can finance it... no setup fees would probably be a winner. The reason most ppl are apprehensive about going with rackshack seems to be their $250 upfront setup fee.

Also, something people dont like about RackShack is that they have no toll free number. I know Ive spent hundreds of dollars in long distance chatting with hosts without toll free numbers.

A toll free is something that can be cheap and bring in alot of customers. Also, the 24/7 toll free support is something big. For $200/month, you should be able to do this.

Also, when you say you will install MYSQL for free, do you mean you configure everything and install something like myphpadmin as well? Also, will your techincal support department support mysql techincal questions. That is something that RackShack and CobaltRacks do not offer.

Jim

Very special deal 'one for the price of two' :D

Considering you're reselling the servers from RackShack.net (revealed by traceroute) with a 64% profit margin (rackshack sells them for $128/month).

I don't mean to sound harsh, just stating the facts (best know now than later), anyone who is gonna rent a server will do at least a traceroute and your cover will be blown. Most dedicated server resellers negiotate specials with their providers and match,beat or come-close-to the provider price, often with value added services such as cpanel thrown in, toll-free support, extra memory, free tech support etc...

Those darn canadians, their so sneaky :)

Thought they could pull a fast one on us Americans....well ha!!!

Oh yeah...and your canadian beer sucks

Jim

grrrrrrrrr Canadians are nice.
/me cuddles his Canadian fiance

:D

--James

Now lets draw the line somewhere! I will not stand by and let Any kind of beer be insulted!

LOL

and American's think Bud is the necture of gods... /me saps on his Stella Artois

--James

Originally posted by jimb
Also, something people dont like about RackShack is that they have no toll free number. I know Ive spent hundreds of dollars in long distance chatting with hosts without toll free numbers.

A toll free is something that can be cheap and bring in alot of customers. Also, the 24/7 toll free support is something big. For $200/month, you should be able to do this.

Also, when you say you will install MYSQL for free, do you mean you configure everything and install something like myphpadmin as well? Also, will your techincal support department support mysql techincal questions. That is something that RackShack and CobaltRacks do not offer.

Jim

We are looking at ways of making no setup fees available to customers but as most people know that it is hard to have no setup fees with cheap monthly fees.

Toll-free Sales is at this point in time almost for sure going to be available. However, we don't see that 24/7 sales would be available.

Also the toll-free Support line may not be available at launch but we are considering it and looking at ways to make it available.

MySQL installed for free just means the Cobalt Package installed for free. we don't see at this time being able to answer support questions on certain mysql related problems. I included this because I seen that Cobalt charges to get it installed under their "Professional Services".

Our forms of technical support as of now will be:

- an automated help desk (probably wonderdesk)
- email
- icq
- AIM
- chat

but Toll-Free support is one thing we would love to offer. just costs money :)

Originally posted by MattF
Very special deal 'one for the price of two' :D

Considering you're reselling the servers from RackShack.net (revealed by traceroute) with a 64% profit margin (rackshack sells them for $128/month).

I don't mean to sound harsh, just stating the facts (best know now than later), anyone who is gonna rent a server will do at least a traceroute and your cover will be blown. Most dedicated server resellers negiotate specials with their providers and match,beat or come-close-to the provider price, often with value added services such as cpanel thrown in, toll-free support, extra memory, free tech support etc...

What you have stated is not what we are doing.

The reason that RaQHost.ca shows up in RackShack.net Data Center is the fact that it is.

The reason for this is we have leased a server from them to work on scripts, program installs, and just get some advanced knowledge about the Raq4i before we spit out 2000$ to buy our own and the co-locate it somewhere. I'm sure you can see that leasing a 100$ server for testing purposes is quite more sensible then buying a server we may never use.

We also have some virtual web hosting accounts for the "local folks" on that server too.

So thinking that we are reselling for RackShack.net is not what we are doing. We just have not enough funding yet from the bank so we have to limit ourselves on what we buy.

Theres nothing really wrong with reselling for a company anyways as long as the company you resell for is respected in the industry and you make it known that you are reselling..

Hi ya

Just out of interest can these be installed onto a RAQ server?
PHP 4.0.5
MySQL 3.23.38

?

Also, how much is additional ram?

--James

Originally posted by WildWayz
Hi ya

Just out of interest can these be installed onto a RAQ server?
PHP 4.0.5
MySQL 3.23.38

?

Also, how much is additional ram?

--James

I'm not sure if PHP 4.0.5 can be installed on a raq or if mysql 3.23.38 can be installed.

For the additional ram, we are not sure how much it would be, but we are sure it would be cheaper than the 79$ that rackshack.net charges. I think that is a little high.

Originally posted by WildWayz
Just out of interest can these be installed onto a RAQ server?
PHP 4.0.5
MySQL 3.23.38


They can be, but manually. This means that if your host only installs cobalt-certified packages, you can get MySQL and PHP, 1 or 2 version behind the current one usually.

Could you offer like www.dialtoneinternet.net do..??
They still the best Dedicated for Raq ...!!!

Regards
Adhytia WS

Originally posted by adhytia
Could you offer like www.dialtoneinternet.net do..??
They still the best Dedicated for Raq ...!!!

Best in what? Actually their regular RAQs are more expensive at $275 / month compared to Rackshack's $99 and even 4webspace's $199.

No, they regular price $275 for Raq is Raq4i..!!!!
But another price not on their web site is more cheaper, for Raq3.

I suggested you may call or email clara@dialtoneinternet.net for any more cheap price for Raq3 or Raq4r

Nowaday, it is a lot dedicated server company use UUNET, AT&T and whatever, but The Important things are Support Systems and Customer Relationship....

And We really impressed that DI is The Best..:):)

Regards
Adhytia WS
adhytia@judistira.com

Adhytia, I'm quite aware of DI's specials. I have a unit at DI and Clara has also contacted me regarding the low-end, low cost, low bandwidth specials but you cannot compare these with Rackshack's RAQ4i, 20GB HD, 150GB bandwith, $99 / month or even with 4webspace.

I actually think that most of these RAQ3 specials are discards/leftovers from those who upgraded to better machines, an offshoot of Sun Cobalt's decision to stop production of their RAQ3 line.

As far as support is concerned, as per their contract to their dedicated server customers, DI's support is limited to reboot and hardware maintenance. All other tech support is charged at $95 per hour.

I agree though that they have excellent facilities.

I think The DI has many cheap offer, but with Raq3.
Some offer cost only $99, you can contact clara@dialtoneinternet.net for more details...

Regards
Dhidhel
www.judistira.com

Ummmm, ok, but note this wasn't a, "Who else offers RaQs and at what price?" thread. Price isn't the only thing you should ever buy anything on, and although one company is more expensive, there may be reasons it would be better to go with them.

Please keep to the thread topic, and start a new thread for anything else.