Long time 'watcher' first time poster...

I have two hosting companies I use. Host A is a large provider that uses cPanel. The cost is about 100 bucks a year with 200MB. Host B is about 1/2 the cost with lower limits and uses Cobalt servers.

HostA I have experienced some lag in response to Trouble Tickets although few have been submitted. I have in all had very few problems. They are a silent hosting company that seems to provide good service to me.

HostB was excellant on price and support. I have a sense there is only one support guy. However, he is fast at responding. I had some quirky requests, yet he was able to help.

I am again faced with choosing another Host. After reading the posts here, I have found that Host A has received some negative comments. HostB has received no positive nor negative. However, the owner posts honest fair posts often.

The decision for me to use Host A to this point has been control panel. I have been very impressesed with the control panel. To be quite honest, I am a minor web guy just dabbling mostly to support my gaming habits.

Moving forward, I am forming a large Player Association for the new Star Wars Galaxies (November release). The website will be under more activity than the ones I have now.

I have several options ahead and was wondering if you might be able to help me.

1. Try a new host someone here recommends. (I have seen good info on Splash Host)
2. Go with HostA because the control panel seems more friendly
3. Host B has superior service and work to help so choose this host and put up with the Cobalt interface.

Let me know what you all think or if you have other advice I am open to suggestions.

Thanks...

Host B - cause why not to support the guy who has supported you very well?

I forgot to mention that neither of the hosts I have terribly utilized.

HostA is where my email is houses in addition to some forums. HostB was so cheap I paid for a year and after some initial problems have not used that domain much. Actually, I moved a domain there and the domain expired. I wasn't using them or that domain. However, Host B did email me out of the blue and said "Have you moved your Domain." Before I could even respond, the techie email me to report the thing had expired. They did let me register a new domain and point her to them with no cost.

I have been a network engineer (Microsoft / Novell) for years, but I am just now dabbling in the web world. Are the Cobalt servers ok? Bare with me...

It depends on what you need in that Cpanel. If you're going to use the mailing list feature, I've yet to find a host that really has known what they were doing when I first had any Mailman difficulties (and believe me, Mailman will glitch at some point, it's like a law of physics). Of the three hosts I've used with Mailman, one learned quickly and responded well on support; one was so awful that we won't repeat the nightmares their Mailman caused me; and the last is my current host, and the jury's still out on his response to the issue.

I run two play-by-email clubs. I had three former hosts that were so awful I won't even state their names. One had Cpanel/Mailman and is discussed enough on these forums that I don't need to add to their bad press. Another was a local host, and it was pretty much, here's your account, figure it out (Smartlist/procmail). The worst was a Cobalt based, not because _they_ were bad, but because the server/account simply couldn't handle a fan-based organization like I was running.

My last host was wonderful - the only reason I left was I needed a reseller account for other projects that let me buy "in bulk" and chop up packages as I needed for non-fan-based work.

I moved to Splashhost, and the server up time is good. The Cpanel works nicely and they've got good pricing on the regular hosting plans. I've seen here on WHT that they do have concerns with overly-active message forums (a reasonable concern). If your association is going to use heavy message forums, they may not be viable for you. You'll need to email Alan and see, although with a new site estimating resource usage is harder. The customer forums at Splashhost are very helpful, responding well on the forums with the little bits and details and quirks of running on a Cpanel.

My only complaint is that if my mailing lists stay down much longer, I may have to find a new provider. A play-by-email club without working Mail Lists is dead in the water.

Ask all of the companies for references. Happy customers usually write the Web host and grant permission to use them as a reference (this is what I always do when happy :) ).

Some hosts will supply you with Email addresses and URLs of their customers.

Contact the customers if you want. And check the URLs supplied to you at various times of the day.

It's hard to evaluate a host. While this method isn't foolproof (a host can be having a really good week or a really bad one), you can still see if the site goes down, how fast it loads, etc.

I'm a rookie myself so I sure don't have all of the answers. But it's just another step you can use to make the right decision.

I would say go with host B who has already provided you with all the support you needed even if it is just one guy I think that most of the people here who started out that way atleast I know I did.. I used to use raqs before and I never really had any problems as long as you do not overload the server(the same goes for all servers but as raqs are a little slower you need to be even more careful) then everything should run fine. Remember everyone starts somewhere and by that one person or the small group giving customers quick support, good prices and know there stuff they will come out ahead in the long run.

RaQs are pretty decent. If you're really concerned see if Host B has anything newer available and if you can test drive it.

Sincerely,

-Matt

Matt,

Lets pretend Host B was you.. Have you other than RAQ devices?

Sun Microsystems just released a new version of RAQ, powerfull enogh.

Its a toss up, Im not a fan of RaQ's at all but then again you've received good support from them. If cpanel is the deciding factor you might want to inquire Host A about whatever issue you have with them that is making you reluctant to sign up more sites. If cpanel isn't that much of a factor then go with Host B, and hope the RaQ continues to support your site. A RaQ can not handle the load you can put a standard server through, at least not in all my experience. I can easily buy a far more powerful server for the same price of a typical RaQ.

TnLiP,

Without pretending I can honestly say yes, we've dumped all but one section of our cobalt servers in lieu of newer, faster, custom-built solutions.

And no, we have more than one technical staff member. Accounts are delegated to a single service rep who handles all your queries. That way there's no possible chance of poor communication between our staff.

Go host B!

:D

-Matt

Note: If we are the fortunate benefactor of this conversation please direct future queries to me via email or icq: 10891512

I am going host B.


<TnLiP hears a cheer from the crowd>