Hello everyone, and yes this is my first post ;)

Following the advice from a friend, I've poked around here the past few days looking at hosts, hosting options, and people's opinions about said hosts or services.

I am currently running a very small (ie <20mb) website and forum, and have grown tired of the constant outages and downtimes my free host seems to experience more often than not. When it takes four attempts (the first three timing out) to load a 4 kB webpage, there's something wrong.

I was looking at iPowerWeb, but it seems that many people here have noticed security flaws and other issues. I have checked out several other hosts, and decided that what they offer is far greater than anything I need (and could afford; I am a student, after all :)).

Simply put, I am looking for a host that offers: Between 50-100 mB storage space; PHP / MySQL capability; Email accounts (not just aliases; based off a domain I would transfer to the new host); FTP access (both secure and anonymous); Live phone support (not that I have any issues currently); and of course, Reliability.

As I said, I run a silly little site and a small group of forums (<2500 posts). Has anyone had experience with hosts that provide what I need (and perhaps more?) that you would recommend? Thank you all greatly.


And yes, I did use the Search button :stickout:

Haha iPowerWeb

The guys I'm with would suit you great. www.webspacesolutions.com 100MB, 5GB Transfer a month, (5) real POP accounts, and the rest of the stuff you seem to be looking for @ $8.99 a month. Less than a pizza a month. ;) Not too tough on the student pocket book.

Just a recommendation, we hosts have set plans listed on our sites, however most of us also include an option or link to request a custom plan should you need something smaller or larger than the listed plans.

I would narrow your choices down to the top 5 picks you would like to sign up with, then email them with the specs and ask for a custom quote.

Almost any host can provide the specs you need, you just have to take the time to ask :)

I'm certainly going to go ahead and email the sites, xAngelx, but I'm just wondering what hosts other small-time website owners have found success in :)

Deffinately thanks for the suggestion, slomr2; I've heard that name tossed around a bit on here as well

Poetics -

I have plans with the following, for very similar specs as yours:

VentureOnline.com
Akashik.net
Myacen.com

and am about to open up something with okihost.com over the next few days.

Other popular hosts here include:

pair.com
hostingmatters.com
unitedhostin.co.uk

Check the names out using the search forum, and keep an eye on the "offers" forum.

Originally posted by Poetics
Hello everyone, and yes this is my first post ;)

Following the advice from a friend, I've poked around here the past few days looking at hosts, hosting options, and people's opinions about said hosts or services.

I am currently running a very small (ie <20mb) website and forum, and have grown tired of the constant outages and downtimes my free host seems to experience more often than not. When it takes four attempts (the first three timing out) to load a 4 kB webpage, there's something wrong.

I was looking at iPowerWeb, but it seems that many people here have noticed security flaws and other issues. I have checked out several other hosts, and decided that what they offer is far greater than anything I need (and could afford; I am a student, after all :)).

Simply put, I am looking for a host that offers: Between 50-100 mB storage space; PHP / MySQL capability; Email accounts (not just aliases; based off a domain I would transfer to the new host); FTP access (both secure and anonymous); Live phone support (not that I have any issues currently); and of course, Reliability.

As I said, I run a silly little site and a small group of forums (<2500 posts). Has anyone had experience with hosts that provide what I need (and perhaps more?) that you would recommend? Thank you all greatly.


And yes, I did use the Search button :stickout:

I can recommend http://atomhost.com . The only thing that I'm not sure about is the phone support. To be honest, I've never needed to call them because a) I had very few problems with them and b) the email support was great. The only reason that I'm moving out away from them is because I've outgrown their plans. They're running a May special that may suit your needs:

http://atomhost.com/d-special.htm

Thanks, everyone; there are some good plans there. And Enigmatics :eek2: that's some cheap hosting, there

Yes, I noticed that their special was "very" cheap, but if they can provide the same support on that plan as they did on the plan that I used, I would be satisfied. As I said before, their support was excellent.

I can recommend http://onyxlight.com . They have live phone support plus they have given me a personal cell phone after hours number to call if I had any problems. To be honest, I've never needed to call them because I've had very few problems with them but I like the fact that I can always reach someone. Another cool thing is that they gave me two free months when I transfered over. If you want give them a look if not than good luck too on finding someone that meets your needs.

Hey Brian, let me know how that okihost works out for you; I'm looking at their Oki 200 package ... hmmm :)

I'm just worried that I'll find something better as soon as I sign up for one of these; though of course isn't that always the risk

I know the owner of okihost.com and he is a great guy, very professional at what he does. I would recommend oki to anyone who is looking for quality. :)

If you can afford to spend 29 bucks per month, try the webmaster account at pair.com. Pair IMHO is the Rackspace of virtual hosting. Absolutely reliable, and rock steady!

Had I the money, I would pick pair.com; I've heard a number of great things about them, but it's just too rich for my budget. Perhaps after I get my site somewhat bigger, and more popular with the masses will I upgrade :)

Have you looked at Page-zone yet? Or hostgator?

I'm just worried that I'll find something better as soon as I sign up for one of these

It is works for a year, then it really is the best!

Personally, I won't touch cheap. Cheap implies something missing from the business. This board - WebHostingTalk - is almost exclusively fuelled by people complaining about cheap service turning very sour.

You pay for what you get - which is precisely why the bigger companies charge more.

I haven't, iceishot, bt I sure will. Agreed, Brian, and I can understand (very well) that cheap hosts = cut corners and sacrificing something in order to get the prices that low. But yes, as you said, if it works for a year, then it's worth it ;)

As I said, keep me informed about the okihost; that's one I'm deffinately looking at. Right now my budget allows for about $10 a month, depending if I get sponsors for my site or not, but I'm not holding my breath.

Likely be signing up with OKIhost tomorrow. :)

I needed to check that I would access to CPanel. Also needed to mention that I'll be transferring a another forum from my servers at Nirmani, and if Akashik.net and VenturesOnline are anything to go by, OKI will have to change the MySQL buffer size to accomodate the database back-up I'm carrying.

Anyway, once I get a positive response to both - and I'm sure they will be, then I'll sign up and get my files uploaded. :)

What size backup do you have? I doubt they'd have to do anything for my little 6mb backup; as I said, my boards are less than 2000 posts ;)

Same here - I only had the community online for 3 weeks before the Nirmani server went down.

The hardest part with setting up a community is getting the first posts and members, though, so I don't want to lose those. I had just over 100 members and maybe 800 posts. Not much, but better than restarting with a completely empty board.

OKI says no problem. :)

Hey that's a nice amount of users, if you ask me ;) I have 41 users, and about 5 of us make up 65%+ of the traffic. I just feel I need this upgrade and update (both in server hardware and in forum software) to keep the users I have and attract more users

Hey, who said all of my members are real? ;)

I added lots to boost numbers. It helps attract newer members. :)

Should expand soon enough, though. About to run a promo that guarranteed to bring in another 200-300 new members straight away. (I know it will because I used the same on my chronicles forum, where I didn't actually add artificial members. Sites went down half-way through, which destroyed the promo :( ).

Just signed with OKI for a 200 package. Very nearly signed for a reseller package, though, because of this (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141139) (bascially, 25% off OKI reseller packages - one day left). But I'm stretching financially across 5 hosts as it it, and I really don;t need a reseller account anyhow.

Btw - if you're signing up and actually want to read the TOS, the file extension should be .php, not HTML. E-mailed OKI about that. Just updated my sites to .php instead of .html so it was easy to figure out.

Anyway, hope we both enjoy our stay at OKI. :)

Quick note - if you're looking at community building, I recommend you visit www.forum-forum.com for some tips. :)

I talked to them about the TOS as well ;)

I can safely say I'm pretty sold on OkiHost, really. They have what I want, and what I need, and their tech support is helpful and informed. Maybe I'll try it out for a few months and see how things go

Originally posted by Poetics

As I said, I run a silly little site and a small group of forums (<2500 posts). Has anyone had experience with hosts that provide what I need (and perhaps more?) that you would recommend? Thank you all greatly.
And yes, I did use the Search button :stickout:

Hey Poetics your needs are fairly typical. I'd recommend, once you've developed a short list (from using search at WHT) to try to identify some of that companies clients who post here.

Feel free to contact the clients and ask them what they think. You'll get the most honest opinions that way.

I know this is a bit more work, but if it ensures you get set up with a good company from the get-go, then its worth it.

Good luck.

Cheers
Jeff