hey guys,
I have a general idea and I am inclined to go for it, but since it's a 6 month deal and at least a week of setting it up I rather ask for some suggestions and feedback before jumping to it.

I run a few websites and the most popular one runs postnuke (php and Mysql).
the deal is this: (http://www.dialtone.com/prodandserv/specials/3way.php?category=PRODUCTS+%26+SERVICES)

Brand IBM
CPU 1 GHz Pentium III
RAM 256 MB 133 MHz SDRAM ECC
Hard Drive 18.2GB Ultra 160 SCSI Hard Drive
Network Single Ethernet
IPs Free
OS Choice of Linux, Win2K, WinNT and FreeBSD
Services Web, FTP, DNS, Mail and More
Traffic 65 GB Burstable


Regular Price $288 Setup Fee and $345/monthly
3 Ways to Save
1. Pay monthly $288 Setup Fee $288/monthly Save $342*
2. Pay semi- annually No setup fee! $1,728/semi annually Save $630*
3. Pay annually No setup fee! $2,765/annualy Save $1,663**

my questions are:
1. I know that the more MHZ the better but honestly is there a big difference as far as hosting goes from 1 GHZ to let's say 1.3 or dual proccessor? I am paying $650 a month for a dual one and now I rarely see the server load higher then 0.2. I will use heavy php, mysql and some cgi

2. Will definitely add more ram to at least 512, any idea how much Dialtone charges these days for 256?

3. Any pros and cons to dialtone or this particular deal?

thanks again,

Under no circumstances would I sign a contract with a web host, the only benefit of the contract is to the host. If things are not up to your expectations they will enforce the contract and you are stuck. Also their contracts automatically renew at the end of the term unless you specifically notify them and you are stuck for another term.

A good web host doesn't have to use contracts to retain customers but provides superior support and customer care.

Do a search on dialtone and see some of the stories. Some are good, some are bad, but there is too much bad for my opinion, also I speak from personal experience.

Do not sign a contract with any web host!

We have servers w/ very similar specs w/ dialtone, and have had great service from them. We will likely put more servers there in the future. The 6 mo contract is not a problem for us--but I guess it depends on what you're willing to pay. We prefer the 6mo discount anyway.

Just make sure you're getting what you want in terms of cpanels/interfaces because dt pre-installs them sometimes.

I'm going to check that deal out...thanks for posting ;)

As far as your questions about server load go: if your load is really that low, I'd think you'd be fine w/ the single processor.

RAM Upgrade info is here:
http://www.dialtone.com/prodandserv/ibmupgrades/index.php?category=PRODUCTS+%26+SERVICES

We always go w/ the one-time fee...but that's just personal preferance.

Originally posted by hostseeker
Under no circumstances would I sign a contract with a web host, the only benefit of the contract is to the host. If things are not up to your expectations they will enforce the contract and you are stuck. Also their contracts automatically renew at the end of the term unless you specifically notify them and you are stuck for another term.

A good web host doesn't have to use contracts to retain customers but provides superior support and customer care.

Do a search on dialtone and see some of the stories. Some are good, some are bad, but there is too much bad for my opinion, also I speak from personal experience.

Do not sign a contract with any web host!

Contracts are not all that bad. They usually require that something be provided by both parties. If not, then yeah, don't sign one. No reason to give away something for nothing.

Contracts are good for customers too. They show a committment to a service provider in exchange for perks.

If the service provider doesn't hold up to their end of the contract, you are no more obligated to hold up your end.

Of course, I'm in no way recommending dialtone. Just providing my opposing opinion on contracts. I know nothing about dialtone.

I would not fear the contract either. I can tell you from working at an ISP/Colo house that customers that pay us yearly get better treatment. They invest in us and we invest in them.

Month to month is cool and it is true that customer service needs to be top notch if you don't have contracts.

Alot of business minded people see the logic in paying a year in advance. It's better to save money and sign a year contract then go month to month, since it can eat into your profits. If the market favors the customers with low prices it makes sense to lock yourself in.

we did have quite a few servers with Dialtone (and still have a few) we moved away for many reasons but have found cancelling contracts withem very difficult, even though we have followed the contract terms to the letter, eventually we have succeeded with each cancellation but it was very time consuming.

One very annoying problem which they don't seem to accept as one is the packet loss shown on any trace to a Dialtone server. Here is one I just did to Dialtone.com from

http://www.webhits.de/visualroute/

the last hop before their server showed:

13 | 60 | 64.215.187.62 | Customer.pos12-0-0.ar1.TPA1.gblx.net | Tam

that's 60% packet loss, they do have an explanation for this but you try telling that to a prospective customers who does a trace to your server, if you get the chance to explain

Like I said above, if everything goes okay, there is no problem with the contract.

But if you aren't satisfied, they won't let you out of the contract, they will start talking about their lawyers, and how one of their founders is a lawyer and all of that stuff.

And the intrepretation of "satisfied" is their intrepretation and not yours!

Beware of signing contracts for web hosting. The worst reason to sign a contract is to save a little money. You can get the same deal or better elsewhere for no contract, and the support team will please you rather than talk about their contracts if you aren't happy. (I am not a host, or a reseller of dedicated hosting just a user of dedicated hosting sharing my personal experience)

Originally posted by BlueBox

One very annoying problem which they don't seem to accept as one is the packet loss shown on any trace to a Dialtone server. Here is one I just did to Dialtone.com from

http://www.webhits.de/visualroute/

the last hop before their server showed:

13 | 60 | 64.215.187.62 | Customer.pos12-0-0.ar1.TPA1.gblx.net | Tam

that's 60% packet loss, they do have an explanation for this but you try telling that to a prospective customers who does a trace to your server, if you get the chance to explain

any idea why this is? I pinged and although it doesn't show a packet loss it's still much slower than everything else.

It does seem to be just when a traceroute is done, and they did give a 'feasible' technical explanation about how their router can sense a traceroute packet and ignores it, something along those lines, I don't remember exactly.

The problem was more that we had prospective and actual customers asking why there was so much packet loss.