Anyone have any experience with :
* 1DollarHosting.com
* FreeHostSpace.com
I would appreciate any info on these web hosts.
I am interested in thier quality of service and ability to keep up their end of the bargain.
Hoping to avoid scams etc.
They offer free/lo-cost hosting packages.
-- Thanks Richard

I think it is a case of what you expect. At another forum, people seem to expet a whole lot for FREE, and you just have to realize that $1 or free hosting/mo. gets you about that, not much more. You just have to understand that. So long as you do, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I personally would rather pay a few bucks more for something reliable than waste a buck on something that isn't and *then* have to spend a few bucks on something reliable.

This isn't to say these places aren't reliable, just that I realize how much it costs to provide hosting, and it is substantially more than $1-free/mo.

I wouldn't go with them. At just $1/month, they probably cram a billion sites on each server, and it's probably reeeaaalllyyy slow. Plus, 1DH claims "unlimited" data transfer. Ha! They'll probably cut you off after you transfer 50MB! Well, maybe not that bad. But at $1/month, they can't afford much. Beware.

Originally posted by Chicken
... I personally would rather pay a few bucks more for something reliable than waste a buck on something that isn't...You mean waste 61 bucks. 1dollarhosting.com makes you pay a $49 "membership fee" up front, plus pre-paying the $12 for the year.

It seems to me that the most effective way to make money with this kind of business plan would be high turnover. Once you've paid your $49 up-front fee and are then only paying $1/month, the company has almost *zero* incentive to keep you as a customer, and plenty of incentive to replace you with a new customer.

I've never used 1dollarhosting.com so I can't comment on their level of service, I'm just trying to state what my throughts would be if I were in the position of looking for a cheap host and found one that had "$1 a month" splashed all over their website, and a large "membership fee" hidden in the small print.

Im my opinion, you would be better off trying to find a reputable free hosting service than go with one that seems ultra cheap but wants to charge a big up-front fee.

Originally posted by Intelligent Hosting
You mean waste 61 bucks. 1dollarhosting.com makes you pay a $49 "membership fee" up front, plus pre-paying the $12 for the year.


Also, if you haven't already registerd your domain, 1DH will use Register.com, and if you go to Register.com's website, it's $35/year/domain. So if my math is right it's $96/first year, and $47/subsequent years.

At FreeHostSpace, it's also $35/year to transfer or register the domain. My guess is that they use one of those bulk registrars that charge less than $10/domain and the rest is profit. Hm?

Anyways, it's not that cheap.

Personally, of my friends who don't want to pay for our (measly) websites we either use the free space given by our ISP, the free space given by our campus, or Geocities (or Angelfire or Tripod).

I don't know anyone who'll put up with the spam from DotEasy or FreeHostSpace or the extra fees with 1DH just to get rid of banners or get their own domain name.

Thanks for all the replies.
I already have a domain name.
I am looking for a free to low cost reliable host.
I currently have my domain name forwarded to a free site with frames.
This mechanism does not sit well with search engine spiders etc.
They just get data from the frame page in the serach engine listing cache. The data from the ultimate page is not shown in search engine cache.
Really need DNS to point to the real IP (site) without intermediate frames, I guess.
But this does not seem to be possible without your own IP address.
Your own IP does not seem to be an option at the free providers.
What are the alternatives for this using free to low cost hosting.
I have heard of Domain Pointers but do not know how they work.
My domain name is currently registered with NamesDirect.com and they also allow me email forwarding as well as URL forwarding.
-- TIA - Richard

Originally posted by Chicken
I personally would rather pay a few bucks more for something reliable than waste a buck on something that isn't and *then* have to spend a few bucks on something reliable.


I totally agree! But there are some good hosts that offer cheap, reliable stuff! http://************* or http://haisoft.net wich I assure are good

I'm very happy with the host deal from Microworld (http://www.microworld.com). For a one-time fee of about $30, you get ad-free domain hosting for life. I was skeptical when I first signed up, but since I was on a limited budget I decided to give it a shot. I've been pleasantly surprised. The site chugs along and I can't remember the last time the site was down (if it was at all).

I also really like Portland (http://www.portland.co.uk). I'm aware that some people complain about them, but I really appreciated their service. They supply PHP, mySQL, and domain hosting for free with no ads. The only hitch is they limit bandwidth to 100MB per month and they can also be a little flakey (downtime and slow response). However, I was very happy with their service. I only left them because I have my own dedicated server now.

I highly recommend both.

Also, if you haven't already registerd your domain, 1DH will use Register.com, and if you go to Register.com's website, it's $35/year/domain. Not necessarily. Register.com has a program similar to OpenSRS where the 'reseller' can set their pricing to whatever they want, with Register.com taking a flat fee. For example, we do registrations through them at $20 per year. You will pay the $35 if you go directly, but there are hosts who have a co-branded site or one based on their BestSRS system. I don't know for certain about 1DH in terms of what they charge for domain registration though, just pointing out that it might not be $35.

Signed,
5 times more expensive.

to be quite honest i'm pretty impressed with 1dollarhosting.com i been with them for about 3 months and it's been great.. they have exellent support via e-mail.. they answer pretty quick on the other hand HOSTONCE.COM is a nightmare they suck big time i regreat ever getting an account with them

I wouldn't touch a hosting company with 1DollarHosts business plan with a 10 ft pole. Whoever said that above hit the nail on the head. What's their incentive to keep you around? While everything may be peaches and cream now, just remember in a few months/weeks things could change drastically, especially with them not gaining anything by keeping you around. It may sound like an overused cliche, but you really do get what you pay for.

With FreeHostSpace.com. They are out of business now because they owed their reseller company money and were shut down. While I was with them, they had alright customer service...nothing special. But I had a lot of down time and once they were having financial trouble...it was IMPOSSIBLE to get any info from them. They pretty much had my domain held hostage. I had paid for another site to host there and then they went under...I ended up having to contact my CC company to cancel because there was no getting hold of FHS.com to get a refund. And I ended up having to contact enom.com (that's who they registered their domains through) just to get access to my domain. Overall...bad experience.

Hi :
Thanks to all for all the replies.
I have signed up with HaiSoft.net ...
After a few new server install problems were corrected the service has been quite reliable.
--- Thanks again Richard