hi guys

i have a question: how much should i pay for hosting?

the forum is activated sind september 2001...

some facts about my forum:

software: vbulletin
members: 376
postings per day: 300-700
impressions per day: ~ 8'000-12'000
currently active users (8 in the morning till 1 in the night): 15-30
traffic per month: ~ 7 GB

at the moment i have to pay nearly $ 100.- per month, it's not
cheap, but i think it's ok, because the server is very fast and
the services and support is very good... but no, they
have announced that i'll have to pay more for the next period,
but i don't know, if i should accept that...

so, what do you think? how much is a fair price???

thanks for your help

greetings from switzerland :)

$15.00 usd a month

$15 seems a bit low for a quality server... I'd say $20 for a decent one, $30 if you want some extra features.

I would have to go with skie on this.

$20 to $30 a month USD sounds about right for what you need...

If I can ask is that $100.00 per month USD??

Michael

Originally posted by michaeln
I would have to go with skie on this.

$20 to $30 a month USD sounds about right for what you need...

If I can ask is that $100.00 per month USD??

Michael

yes, that are nearly $ 100 USD...

If you are paying 100 bucks a month, you are getting ripped off, unless you're paying for things we don't realize, like certain kinds of support or options.. But still..

What Host are you with currently, just out of curiosity?

As for your original question, I agree that $20-$30 seems fair.

Originally posted by ebo

What Host are you with currently, just out of curiosity?

www.voodooweb.com - but the site is only in german...

As for your original question, I agree that $20-$30 seems fair.

so, it looks like i'm spending too much money... :rolleyes:

It's a bit much... May want to look at a virtual server though...

Maybe the difference is because their servers are located in Switzerland (BTW, greetings!), bandwidth is much more expensive here in Europe.

as i know, the server is in the united states...

Originally posted by Walter
Maybe the difference is because their servers are located in Switzerland (BTW, greetings!), bandwidth is much more expensive here in Europe.

According to domainwhitepages.com when I looked up his domain name eforen.com it says that the server is actually located in the NAC.NET datacenter in New Jersey.

<domainwhitepages.com>
canonical name eforen.com.
aliases
addresses 209.123.73.174

Network Whois record
Querying whois.arin.net with "209.123.73.174"...

Net Access Corporation (NETBLK-NAC-NETBLK02)
1719b Route 10E, Suite 111
Parsippany, NJ 07054
US

Netname: NAC-NETBLK02
Netblock: 209.123.0.0 - 209.123.255.255
Maintainer: NAC

Coordinator:
Net Access Corporation (ZN77-ARIN) legal@nac.net
800-638-6336

Domain System inverse mapping provided by:

NS1.NAC.NET 207.99.0.1
NS2.NAC.NET 207.99.0.2
NS5.NAC.NET 207.99.5.190


</domainwhitepages.com>

Just wanted to clarify that...

Michael

Originally posted by eForen


so, it looks like i'm spending too much money... :rolleyes:

The correct answer to the question "Am I spending too much money" Is very subjective. You may be, or you may not be.

Example: I purchase health insurance for myself and my family. I am currently purchasing it from a company that has been in business for close to 100 years, has a proven track record, maintains local sales agents in my community, has proven in the past that they are capable and willing to fulfill their obligations, are pleasant to deal with and charge me $800/month.

There is another company that has offered me a similar policy, for about $400 month. This company has been in business for 1 year, has no local sales agents, (they do offer 24 hour phone response), but in all other areas appear to be substatially equivalent to the company I am currently purchasing from. Am I paying too much?

I could save about 1/2 of the premium, but.... I like dealing with the local agent I purchased through, (He's a really nice guy, and I know he will go to bat for me in a crisis - he's done it before) and the company he represents has proven themselves over time to be reliable, stable, and likely to be in business next year. The new company has no such track record.

I don't think I am paying too much. I am paying more than I would have to to get a substantially equivalent policy elsewhere, but I am much more comfortable trusting my health insurance policy to the company that currently has it. They may go broke next year, and the new company may still be around, I don't know, but I trust the current company more. :)

For a website that is a hobby, not mission-critical, something that it won't hurt if something goes wrong and the site goes down for a day or two, I may look for price as a primary consideration. For my primary source of income, price is almost the LAST thing I look at when considering where it should be hosted.

Only you can make a guess as to whether or not you are paying too much. How valuable is your site to you? How much do you trust your present hosting company? How well do you get along with your contacts there? Can you do as well at a host charging 1/3 as much? Maybe. Maybe not. After you answer these questions, you will have a better idea if you are paying too much.

The "experts" in the hosting industry have described hosting services as being a commodity. After reading posts on this forum for 30 minutes, you should se that it is not, and never will be a commodity. Sugar is a commodity. You can buy virtually any brand of sugar on the shelf at the store, and get along just fine. Some will be higher priced than others, but it is all substantially the same. Sugar tastes like sugar. :)

Hosting companies are not all the same. Hosting at one company is not at all like hosting at another company. It is virtually impossible to tell by price alone which companies are the best, only which are the cheapest or most expensive. If price is all you care about, go for the cheapest one you can find. If you have other concerns, well, finding the "right" hosting company is more difficult.

I'm the host of www.eforen.com.
First, he maybe had a hard weekend and forget about the current 1.7x exchange rate between Swiss Franc and USD.
Currently he's paying 100 Swiss Francs per month but I announced that I maybe higher the price.

I don't want to compete with the cheapest webhosts but I know those wouldn't install numerous vBulletins, advertising programs or edit vB templates as I do.

It's a bit much... May want to look at a virtual server though...
I wouldn't because it's the only account on this GHz server, please test the speed...

Maybe the difference is because their servers are located in Switzerland
In Switzerland you don't have a lot of possibilities to host your server, you have to pay over $1000 per month or you have to share a 2mbit connection with a few other servers.

I'm open for any suggestions and comments about my service.

Have a nice day!

- dom

I think you're paying a little bit too much, from what I've read so far. I would suggest trying to negotiate a lower rate with your current host. You should be able to get the features and reliability you desire for anywhere between 20 and 50 USD. Go any lower, and reliability and service would most likely suffer. But 100 certainly sounds too high.

Even if the exchange rate is 2:1, he is still paying $50/month. I personally think it's too much for what you are looking for.

You may get a virtual server with that kind of money, or buy yourself a reseller account and use all the resources for yourself.