hi,

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum, so if it's not please move it.

I am attempting to start a web host. I am not sure hwo well it will do, but I really want to try to do this. I've been wanting to for quite a while now, and I decided to try it.

Actually, today, I plan to buy the domain and the reseller account, so that i can get started.

Anyway, I have a couple of questions.

1. On resellers
I'll be using zoneserv.com. It looks pretty good, and osmeone suggested it to me. I'm just going to start out with the smallest package, and as I need more, I will upgrade. Does anyone here have experience with that company? it is very affordable.


Second, on pricing, etc.

I've really tried to work carefull with this. I don't want to make it too expensive, but I can't afford to make it the best yet, either. I wanted to set it up so that when my space is filled up using one reseller plan, I have made enough profit to be able to upgrade. Of course, i do have a few hundred dollars on the side for whatever else I'll need to get.

I've set up the following plans, which seems good for my current situation. i definitely plan on improving these sometime, when I can afford to do so.

plan 1:
disk space: 100 MB
bandwidth: 3GB
price: $2

plan 2:
disk space: 250 MB
Bandwidth: 7.5 GB
price: $3.75

plan 3:
disk space: 500 MB
bandwidth: 15 GB
price: $7.50

plan 4:
disk space: 1 GB
bandwidth: 30 GB
price: $15


in all of the above, there are the following
unlimited mysql databases
unlimited subdomains
unlimited addon domains
unlimited ftp accounts
unlimited email accounts

etc...

At ZoneServ.com, the first plan is $5, with 2GB space, 60GB bandwidth. So by the time this is filled, I will have made enough to upgrade to the second plan, and so on and so forth.

I was thinking of limiting a few of the things in the lower plans to entice people to upgrade..but I am not sure how much to provide of things like mysql databases, etc. Suggestion would be very much appreciated with that.

So, again, I'd like any suggestions you might have, and if anyone wants to help...:) I'd like to try to have a very good support team. so, lots of room for help

Thanks a lot

Brandon

Welcome,

I suggest you do a search on these boards for zoneserv.com. They have some pretty bad reviews that I've just seen.

I thought so too. I would recommend you BliksemHosting.com or SolidInternet.com for their low-cost offers.

hello,

Thank you for the suggestions. i will search around the forum, and I will look at the suggested websites.

What billing software would you recommend for starting out? WHM AutoPilot looks interesting, but I really don't want to get that right now.

Brandon

Welcome Brandon. I have used ntrance-media.com many times before and It is a very good site. They have great customer service (and I mean great). I did have a reseller when I was with them, it was very nice. Check them out. zoneserv.com doesnt look to swell, especially for a starter person like you.

I also suggest using ModernBill for your billing software. I really liked it. Maybe just get the month to month license at the moment....

I've been with u2mike.com and wrote a review about them earlier on.

My experience with him has been amazing. He offers killer deals on the advertising forums. You should check him out.

If you prefer not to spend anything for your billing software, phpCoin should be able to satisfy your needs for now.

You might want to check out HostGator's resellers plans. They have a pretty reputable reputation & offer free billing software as well as some cool tools for someone just starting out to get started.

hi,

BliksemHosting.com looks interesting. I like that you can get WHM AutoPilot along with your account. it seems reasonable enough. So I think I will try them.

Brandon

Congrautlations on choosing. Hope everything works well.

hi,

Well, BliksemHosting.com did seem like the right choice, but I failed their phone verification twice. The first time, I thought I was supposed to hit the pound key after I was done typing in the pincode number they gave me. The second time, they just, didn't call, and I am mnot sure why. I contacted them, but they said there is nothing they can do.

That SolidInternet website is nice, but there aren't many options. From what i saw, the resellers only go up to 10GB space. I think I will check out hostgator next. However, if there are any other ones you can recommend, that'd be great.

hi again,

Alright, so I successfully signed up at hostgator.com. It was accepted almost immediately. Now I'm just waiting for my account to be set up.
I'm going to have to
edit my hosting plans a little to best take advantage of what resources I have on hostgator.

Brandon