hi there...
i just posted something in the requests forum looking for a host.

what i'm curious of is what i should look for and stay away from.

are there any caveats or is one host as good as another?

thanks!
:)

johnny

Unlimited bandwidth and space and any host that's url is like ************.com :D

I recommend www.myacen.com :)

unlimited bandwith hehe. Yeah I'm new to hosting too. Bandwith is not the same as traffic/transfer remember that it will come in handy.

After you short list the hosts, do a search on WHT to see if there are available opinions about those sites. So you would be able to guage from past experiences on those who have been on those sites. At the same time, email the hosts and ask some hosting related questions and guage the response time. Try mailing them after hours (if they claim to be 24/7) and if they response during that time, then good. If you get a response the next day during office hours, then well, they might have tons of emails or that the 24/7 support may not actually be there.

One more thing, apart from what was said, if they have an annual plan and that looks attractive, resist the temptation and go on a monthly term at least for the first few months and once you are certain you could always switch to the annual plan.

Be sure to read the Terms and Conditions and Acceptable Usage Policy to see if they are acceptable to you. For anything between the lines, you might want to mail them first before signing up so that you could protect yourself and at least the host is made aware of the site usage.

Your best bet is to look for a company that has been around and while and give realistic numbers.. Make sure they dont offer unlimited space/bandwidth as said above and while you might luck out if you go for a 2.00 a month host check them out a little and make sure you do backups.. if you posted in the requests forum you should already have 10+ offers. other than that good luck :D

what is **********.com ??? or is that an inside joke? :confused:

sorry...i feel awfully intimidated in chat rooms and message boards but i needed info and came in on a recommendation. i will learn but it'll take me a while.

thanks!

Well there are many ppl like you looking for the best and most reliable hosts around. Believe me you are at the right place. Here we s|c|r|e|w the bad ones and cherish the good ones.

Originally posted by johnnyc
what is **********.com ??? or is that an inside joke? :confused:

thanks!

Don't worry about that. The board bans sites which are not too ethnical about how they operate and usually when those sites address or name appears, it would be replaced by **** . This way you know to avoid them. Of course, if you see a name which is spaced out like eg, G E T C H E A T E D.com , you would be sure it is also another site which would have been blocked out if they are worded without the spacing.

Have fun.

johnny,

cheap does not equal good. i find it's good to ask questions of potential hosts not just to test their response time but to see how they relate to you as customer.

and yes unlimited is bad :)

Originally posted by Vinh
I recommend www.myacen.com :) I use myacen too, they had a great package at a very cheap price. Unfortunately they have just raised their prices. :bawling:

hmm...i see. and whoever said that i'd have ten replies by now wasn't kidding.

i'm kinda overwhelmed but it's a good thing. more to choose from.

all these sites are mentioning things about control panels. is one easier to use than another? are there any advantages/caveats to say one that is cpanel over one that's plesk?

thanks...you guys are educating me a bunch
:)

Cpanel = :)

Plesk = ::bawling:

Originally posted by johnnyc
all these sites are mentioning things about control panels. is one easier to use than another? are there any advantages/caveats to say one that is cpanel over one that's plesk?

:)

Here are Demos of the various control panels, try them and see for yourself. Different ones would meet different needs.

Cpanel : http://www.moonslice.com/hosting/CPanelDemo.htm

Plesk : http://www.plesk.com/html/products/psa/demo.htm

Ensim : http://www.ensim.com/products/webppliance/linux/3_1/demos/lhindex.html

Hope that helps

wow...of the three...cpanel looks nice but there are soo many option and ensim looks less busy.

back to the topic of hosting. i'm getting a slew of offers and they vary in hd space and bandwidth but not all too much.

i'm going to have to review all of them and see which ones are the best. is it good etiquette to reply to everyone who has responded or just leave it be when i have made a decision?

thanks a ton...you guys rock!

Originally posted by johnnyc
wow...of the three...cpanel looks nice but there are soo many option and ensim looks less busy.

back to the topic of hosting. i'm getting a slew of offers and they vary in hd space and bandwidth but not all too much.

i'm going to have to review all of them and see which ones are the best. is it good etiquette to reply to everyone who has responded or just leave it be when i have made a decision?

thanks a ton...you guys rock!

my personal opinon on control panels - go with CPanel and ask the host if they use BlueLagoon - easiest to use, IMO. There are also some hosts that use a custom made CPanel, ask them for a demo so you know what it looks like.

As far as selecting a host goes...start with monthly payment at first, but if you decide to prepay, ask the host for their cancellation policy and make sure you can get your money back if something goes sour.

cpanel is the easiest but for whatever reason puts things like webmail on to funky ports...like webmail.yourserver.com:2095 and if you're behind a corporate firewall like me...forget it. you'll never get through to read your email without some help.

plesk looks awfully hard to me.

ensim looks better though i have never tried it.

hope that helps...
john