I am a newbie... and don't know anything about web hosting. Would someone help me? I need a reliable & cheap host. I found a cheap host @ RCThost (http://www.rcthost.com). Has anyone tried that host? Is it reliable? Please reply a.s.a.p. Thanks a lot...

No experience with them but I'ld be a tad careful. Their rates seem to be on the very low side, they offer unlimited diskspace and they only score 73% on hosting assured.
One third of their customers is unhappy with the uptime.

All this could still be waived away because of their low price but if you are new to webhosting then you'll probably need some friendly support and people helping you out with things that usually do not fall under normal support.

Try affordablehost.com futurequest.com or dixieys.com instead. Pay a little more, enjoy a little more :)

Anyone want to recommend host that is $5 or less?
Multiple FTP Accounts
Sub-Domains
100mb DISK SPACE
5 GB MONTHLY BANDWIDTH
... and reliable...
think I have high espectations ... sorry!

one suggestion would be to post for a request in the "web hosting requests" section of this forum.

You will get plenty of capable and not so capable hosts wanting your business. This will make it easier for you to decide. :)

thanks net-trend... :D

i went with RCThost, and I think its one guy running the whole business. Its OK support, closer to the bad side :disagree: , so if you are really new at hosting, then i would not suggest to use rcthost. I had, and still have one technical issue with rcthost, when setting up my pop3 accounts in Outlook Express, i could always get incoming mail, but outgoing mail would NEVER work, i have to use webmail everytime for outgoing mail, because rcthost says its probably a dns problem, but that doesnt help me!!!:mad: :argue:

Originally posted by zachattack87
when setting up my pop3 accounts in Outlook Express, i could always get incoming mail, but outgoing mail would NEVER work, i have to use webmail everytime for outgoing mail, because rcthost says its probably a dns problem, but that doesnt help me!!!:mad: :argue:

Uhm, not to go off-topic but I think I have the solution for that one. It's probably your ISP (the company you use to connect to the internet. Some just flat out refuse to let you use other SMTP servers (used for sending mail) then their own. So if you try to send mail through mail.yourdomain.com while connected to the internet through them it won't go through. Port blocked.

So pilgrim, what do you suggest i do?

So pilgrim, what do you suggest i do?
Try using your hosts SMTP Server.

Anyway RCTHost's prices look to be quite low for what they are offering. If I were you I'd go with a company such as F5Hosting, Ventures Online, HTTPMe. They are all good, legitimate companies with a good record.

zach,
if pilgrims reason is correct, ur unfortunately pretty much screwed. regulations like that are in place so that customers don't spam while using their service. and ISPs are usually pretty strict about spam regulations...

Originally posted by inogenius

Try using your hosts SMTP Server.


Try using my hosts SMTP server? Actually I have using my hosts SMTP server, and still it doesn't work.
But just wondering, how is using my hosts SMTP server any different than using mail.mydomain.com, its still a different SMTP server than my ISP, so if they dont allow my SMTP server, why would they allow my hosts SMTP server? I know i could use forwarders, but i dont think thats a very good idea when im replying to people's email though, because they will see my real email address(then people will start emailing straight to my real email address that is very annoying, whereas using my webhosting email address, when i check my personal email, i wont get my websites emails there), and it doesnt look so professional.

Oh and if your wondering, I have Earthlink DSL, so if anyone knows if Earthlink does block SMTP servers please PM me or respond in this thread.

I think you are the confused one about SMTP servers...

Earthlink certainly does block SMTP

Originally posted by dreamHOBO
I think you are the confused one about SMTP servers...

How am i the confused one about SMTP servers???


So your saying that everyone using earthlink cant use any other SMTP server?
And that's it? Im screwed, and there is nothing that i can do to use my SMTP server?

I have dsl through sprint as well and one of my email addresses wont allow me to reply. I have to go to my outbox and change the message to an email address it does allow.

Patrick Hobbs

So there's no way to get it to work?
Maybe if i contact earthlink.......

Try using your hosts SMTP Server.

Oops... retarded me... that was supposed to be "trying using your ISP's SMTP Server.

IT WORKED!!!!!!
Hey thanks a log inogenius,
but i have a question for anyone,
do you know if msn blocks SMTP servers?, and if they do, do you know if they have their own SMTP server?
Thanks a lot!;)

Originally posted by zachattack87


How am i the confused one about SMTP servers???


So your saying that everyone using earthlink cant use any other SMTP server?
And that's it? Im screwed, and there is nothing that i can do to use my SMTP server?

well now that I know you use earthlink, I can maybe shed a little light on your problem. as a fellow earthlink user, I know for a fact that they DO block smtp, but not in a way that should cause you trouble. The policy that earthlink has is that you can only use their smtp server from your earthlink connection. for example, i can't use earthlink's smtp mail server when I'm at college, it only works at my home (earthlink) connection.

but as far as using another mail server, it should certainly work. I send mail using both mail.earthlink.net and my domain's mailserver all the time without problem. one thing you should check is to make sure ur domain's mailservers don't have any weird settings. for example, my domain's mailservers require i login with my entire email address (annoyance@mydomain.com, rather than just annoyance), which took me forever to figure out at first :rolleyes:

but u also said that using ur host's (earthlink's) mailservers doesn't work either, which leads me to believe your pop3/outlook in general might be messed up somehow. there should be no reason you shouldn't be able to send mail using earthlink's mailservers. hell u pay for it, u should be able to use it!!! i suggest u contact earthlink and get someone to help u at least be able to send mail through earthlink...

LOL alrite, a big NM then :rolleyes:

If you are using a server-based e-mail client, such as Outlook Express, you may need to know your SMTP server address and your POP3 server address to configure your computer to send and receive e-mail

From that quote in the MSN Faq section it would seem as if they don't block other SMTP Servers.

And most ISP's have their own SMTP Server, I'd imagine MSN is no exception. If they don't, I'm sure they have some other type that works just like it.

Hey annoyance, I did put in my WHOLE username: username@domain.com, and i did receive ONLY incoming emails, just outgoing was a problem, but i figured out how to use smtp.earthlink.net for my outgoing mail, oh and annoyance, you can actually use your earthlink pop3 account in outlook express, here are the instructions:
As a solution for customers trying to send email through EarthLink while connected to another network or ISP, EarthLink has developed a new authenticated outgoing email service.

The following will guide you through checking the configuration of Outlook Express 5 for sending email through our SMTP server for users on non-EarthLink connections:

1. Open Outlook Express 5.
2. Click on Tools menu and go down to Accounts.
3. Click the Mail tab.
4. Highlight your EarthLink account and click the Properties button.
5. Click the Servers tab.
6. In the Outgoing Mail Server SMTP field, type smtpauth.earthlink.net .
7. Put a check on "My server requires authentication".
8. Click the Settings button.
9. Select "Log on using..."
10. Type your full EarthLink email address as your Account Name (including the @earthlink.net or @mindspring.com portions). Type your email password in the password field. Make sure "Log on using Secure Password Authentication" is NOT checked.
11. Click OK.
12. Click OK.
13. Click Close.


oh and inogenius, i dont think msn has an smtp server, because they are HOTMAIL, and if you set up Outlook Express for your hotmail email address, it doesnt use pop3.;)

wow, now why didn't the customer rep. tell me THAT when i called about it? :rolleyes:
lol thanks, itll come in handy when im away from home...

no problem

This is Ryan Townley, owner of RCTHost.com.

I wanted to appologize to zachattack87 for not resolving his email problem, but I honestly did not know that some ISP's block other SMTP servers. This issue has only come up a couple times, but I appriciate the info given so I know how to resolve this problem in the future.

I also wanted to rebute a few comments made about my service.

1. Yes we are cheap, haven't had any customers complain and say I should charge more. Why is it so cheap? Virtually no overhead and no debt.

2. You will notice our Hosting Assured rating rising. Currently at 75%

3. Yes we had some downtime issues because I was stuck on a very bad reseller account and had no control. Now I have a dedicated server and completely in control. You will notice our uptime getting much better: http://fmh.alertra.com/fmhuptime/?id1=27898

Anyway just wanted to give my own feedback.