I need a server to host my site, my main need is for speed. All the servers I have hosted with have been slower than I wish for, because they are overloaded I assume as they generally have machines running PIII at 700Mhz or so.

What hosting companies have you found to offer the fastest page loading. You could reply here or email lynton@iname.com.

Thank You.

I'm not a hosting professional or anything but I think that the speed of loading pages depends on the following:

1) server specifications (speed, ram, etc)
2) connection speed and location

For server specs, the higher speed of the processor and memory is better... but some virtual hosts (shared hosting) tend to try to host an extremely high amount of different sites into ONE server so that they can save $$ and etc.

For example,
If you have Host ABC who claims that they run a server with dual P3-700mhz processor and a Host XYZ who claims that they run a single P3-600mhz processor... then obviously, the Host ABC's servers will process/load pages quicker then Host XYZ.

However, if Host ABC hosts a million (example figure) different accounts into that one dual P3-700mhz server... compared to Host XYZ who will only host 50 sites per server, then again... Host XYZ's server will have more resources. (assuming that each single hosting account in each server consumes an equal, X amount of server resources)

For speed, I know you probably already know this.. but a server located in, lets say Austrailia with a single T1 connection is going to load sites slower (to you in the US) then a server located in the USA connected by multiple OC3 lines.

If you are looking for a steady speed/performance... then dedicated servers will be the way to go... because you never know how many accounts a host is willing to load up on a single server, etc.

If you are still looking for a steady virtual host then I would recommend (from reputation from around webhosting forums):

http://www.hostrocket.com - they have annoucements whenever they add new servers... last time I checked they just added a dual p3 800mhz server.
http://www.WizardsHosting.com (is WebHostingTalk.com loading fast enough for ya? :)) - i think Carlos said something about adding some new servers (800mhz?)
http://www.tera-byte.com - i think I read about their impressive speed... or was that data transfer?

well... good luck
if you have any questions about performance/speed of servers, you should e-mail the hosts directly :)
-john

From personal experience and comments of friends, here are a few:

-http://www.hostrocket.com
-http://www.dreamhost.com
-http://www.futurequest.net

Dedicated:
-http://www.rackspace.com
-http://dn.net

I have heard many hosts dont use the more powerful machines. I had always assumed they all used at least what we used, which are Dual PIII 800 w/512 RAM.

We are even looking now at purchasing some new servers *SPECS* Intel i840 Quad Motherboards, 4 * PIII - 933MHz, 256MB ECC RDRAM PC800, 4 * EIDE ULTRA/ATA/100 30GB each, 2 Promise RAID ULTRA ATA/100 RAID 0+1 Controllers.

I hope VDI can live up to my standards....you see, even with the specs above, a server is only as fast or reliable as the data center it sits on. Our current provider is relatively reliable, but service and support is terrible in my opinion, and I am hoping VDI can do better. For example, if I reboot the machine and it hangs, I dont want to have to deal with an answering service and then wait 4 hours for someone to my machine back online like I do now.

This is kind of a two part message also....I am also wondering approx how many servers VDI currently handles. Anyone know? I also dont wanna hear the good stuff about them, I want to know if anyone has had any bad experiences with them and what all was involved with that. I'm an AHole of a client when what's promised isnt delivered, because it also indirectly affects all my clients....to whom which I promise a top of the line service to.

<<Admin edit : part of the msg was too borderline to be considered advertising>>

[Edited by BC on 02-03-2001 at 06:42 PM]

There is a line you need to walk where upgrading a single server to a certain level becomes less efficient than using two seperate servers. This line usually falls between two and four processor systems in my experience.

-Brendan

Originally posted by jimharison
I need a server to host my site, my main need is for speed. All the servers I have hosted with have been slower than I wish for, because they are overloaded I assume as they generally have machines running PIII at 700Mhz or so.

What hosting companies have you found to offer the fastest page loading. You could reply here or email lynton@iname.com.

Thank You.

For virtual account, try http://www.venturesonline.com . I have an account there and they are fast... The server my account is hosted is Dual P3 1Ghz (yes, 1Ghz x 2) and 1GB of RAM. The network is with VDI with connectivity of around 933 Mbps. All these mean you get a very fast site although you are on a virtual account.

Try downloading this picture:
http://216.74.122.43/MaxLinuxPenguin.jpg

I hope the speed will always be like this and of course I hope they will never overload their server.

cheers,
:beer:

Thats a kewl picture, is it yours?

Originally posted by Webdude
Thats a kewl picture, is it yours?

No... I downloaded the picture from tabernack's site at http://webfors.org/ripwin/; follow this thread: http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=5349.

cheers,
:beer: