I am looking for a good webhost, who can preferably provide me a FREE domain registration as well. If not FREE then a cheap domain registration.

This is what I am looking for:

Website size: Medium (100 MB - 200 MB) with a good control panel
Database: MySQL with a good control panel
CGI support: Required
Sub domain support: Preferable
Domain registration: Free/Cheap
POP3 E-Mail: As much as possible

I am looking at an annual cost of around a max of $150, lesser the better.

Can anyone help me with this? Please I am not interested in 'offers'. I want a host that is already reviewed. I donot want the website to break down every 2 months or shutdown because the company no longer exists :rolleyes:

Thanks
-Eswar

hmmm. how much bandwidth are you looking for?

www.phpwebhosting.com
> (you can ask for more storage space if needed for free. for bandwidth, i was using around 35gb per month bandwidth before moving and they had no problems)

www.alwayswebhosting.com
www.site5.com

i'm not sure about prices, but, i think those 3 might be around your budget. and i have had VERY positive experiences with all 3.


EDIT.
i don't know about free domain registration, i've never seen that before, but would like it. go daddy seems to be one of the best for $8.95 a year. but yeah, none of the 3 i mentioned have free domain reg. maybe someone else can recommend a better host that can do that for you..

It is generally advised that one rather buy the domain from a third partie domain registar and not from the host, this allows to change host more easily.

Don´t pay much more than 10$/year for the domain.

Thanks skylab,

I will check them out.

astra.

Do you know someone who can provide me with less than $10/year registration?

Thanks,
-Eswar

no problem, as mentioned in my earlier post as well, www.godaddy.com = $8.95 per year. pretty good control panel also.

i have no experience with them, but i was looking at www.namecheap.com as well, whom is $8.88 a year.

We have a few clients that use godaddy for registrations and they seem satisfied so thats a cheap option for you for registration.
I usually recommend 000domains.com but they are 13.50 a year but have a nice, easy interface for domain mgmt.
Lots of hosts will offer a free registration on yearly plans too.
Good Luck!

A little more, but I would recommend dotster.
It's well worth it for the type of support you get if you need it.

Originally posted by method5
A little more, but I would recommend dotster.
It's well worth it for the type of support you get if you need it.

I'll second that. We refer all of our clients needing domains to Dotster.

Thanks all you guys for your reply,

OK, so where can I compromise - the domain registration or the web host. Since, if I pay 14.95 for the domain for an year, then I have less than $120 dollars for the web host (yearly). Now I have to find out a good host who can provide me with all the required features for a price less than or equal to $120. hmmm...

-Eswar

Never, ever, let your host register the domain name. You want to have FULL control over your name. Buy it from Namecheap (among others) for $8.88. If you really MUST have a free name, check out dot.tk (http://dot.tk). You only get forwarding for free, but at least it allows you to enter keywords (for the search engines). You can get 3 names. Seems to work OK for me.

I use GoDaddy. They are good and I like their control panel, but if you need support, it's relatively difficult to get quickly. I haven't had any problems. I would recommend GoDaddy.

hostdream, please read the rules as far as promoting yourself in the regular forums.

and you may want to search around here for "unlimited" and see how people feel about hosts that offer unlimited bandwidth and/or storage space.

hostdream,

Thanks, but I think I had mentioned that I am not interested in offers. I am looking for a reviewed host. which people have been using before and have a good experience with them.

Eswar

Abu,

Thanks. Yeah, I have pretty much decided to go for a 'standalone' domain registrar. It is not that I want a free offer. I am willing to pay a fair price - in and around $10

-Eswar

phpwebhosting.com = $110.18 yearly. you will have to ask for a few upgrades, which, they should give you for free.

have you contacted them? i believe you said you were looking for less that $120?

not yet sky, (sorry, I actually did. Too many things going on and I am having serious memory lapses :) )

I was wondering if they have a good support for cgi with perl or cgi exe support. I am still figuring out whether I should use scripts or Delphi based exe files. I am checking out and budgeting out. How much time do you think it will take for the whole setup to be up?

Eswar

they do not offer phone support, however, they do have a ticket system and email support. i found it overall good. they helped me out ALOT with setting up some PERL scripts and whatnot early on. i also was using around 20 - 35gb of bandwidth per month (well over their supposed limits), and not only did they NOT complain to me, they actually let me know a few times that they were moving sites around servers, in order to make sure that my site's performance was not hindered. i was with them for almost 10 months before i decided it was best for me to move over to a dedicated machine.

i have seen many mixed reviews for them however. i recommend you contact their sales and ask. setup, if i remember was very quick. i believe with 5 or so hours. but again, that was awhile ago....

I've been with phpwebhosting.com for about 9 months now. I switched to them after discovering the incompetence of my then host, the infamous cavendo.com. I also have a few of my clients signed up with them.

I've had very limited downtime, not really enough to mention.
Their tech support has always responded quickly and helpfully.
I agree that hosts should not advertise unmetered/unlimited bandwidth, but we won't get into that here. I've never been contacted by them for using too much bandwidth or storage space.

I'd recommend them to anyone looking for a well-rounded host at a great price. I think my favorite thing about them is that they are not reselling accounts or offering the option of being a reseller to their customers. They are their own entity and maintain their own equipment.

If anyone has had a bad experience, I'd like to hear about it.

josh