I'm trying to decide on a host for my three web sites. All told, my sites are small and generate almost no traffic so I don't want to have to pay for separate hosting packages for each one. Right now, I have narrowed my list of possibilities to 5 and I need your help in finding the one that I will use. The five are:

- HostRocket (Executive Plan)
- JaguarPC (Advanced Plan)
- Site5 (WebPower Plan)
- ThinkHost (Business Classics Plan)
- WizardsHosting (Plus 300 Plan)

First, I would like to hear about anyone's actual experiences with any of these companies. After reading the reviews posted at Host Review, HostGlobal, etc, all of these companies have superb ratings except for Site5, which is 'only' rated as good.

Second, if you have another suggestion for a hosting provider that can match these companies' offerings and cost less than or equal to $25, tell me. Right now however, I think any of these 5 would suite my needs very well and any suggested company would have to be absolutely fabulous for me to even consider it at all.

P.S. If it helps at all, I am a beaten down and emotionally scarred client of InterLand (spit) who's looking for a new home.

Try checking out http://www.venturesonline.com and http://www.weinbar.com

Thanks Teck,

Ventures Online was actually on my list, but was removed because I couldn't find any customer reviews.

I can't believe I forgot to add DreamHost to my list. They're another hosting company that I hear nothing but good things about. I think I might have left them out due to price but I think I should include them anyway.

So, to recap, my list is now 6 companies long:

- DreamHost (Code Warrior Plan)
- HostRocket (Executive Plan)
- JaguarPC (Advanced Plan)
- Site5 (WebPower Plan)
- ThinkHost (Business Classics Plan)
- WizardsHosting (Plus 300 Plan)

Doesn't anyone have experience with these companies?

there are tons of reviews for VO here and at their forums.

teck suggested weinbar.com but I don't see it in your list of six. There are plenty of people here that have had experience with them, myself included. Their VP is a regular here at WHT, which is nice if you need help. You can't go wrong with their support. Might want to consider them..

Andy

I would personally suggest VenturesOnline or Site5. They are both excellent companies!

speaking of venturesonline....i can't seem to be able to access their website! it is http://www.venturesonline.com isn't it???

Your link works fine for me. They're with VDI, and some other VDI sites had some problems earlier this afternoon.

Andy

vdi was probably out for that 1 min you tried to get to it. its back now.

it still doesn't work for me no matter how many times i hit refresh!!!

Try Jaguar Pc and Site5 :)

Could be because you either attempted a port scan or somehow your IP tried to access a blocked port on the server, cpanel has a nice port monitoring software that tends to automatically ban nosey people..

65.6.48.30 127.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 UGH 0 0 0 lo

which would happen to be you.. its been removed now so you should be able to access it fine.

Originally posted by DanielP
Could be because you either attempted a port scan or somehow your IP tried to access a blocked port on the server, cpanel has a nice port monitoring software that tends to automatically ban nosey people..
*grin*

I know how that is. Whose idea was that portscan thing anyway? :D

Best Regards,
Matt Lightner
mlightner@site5.com

Originally posted by DanielP
Could be because you either attempted a port scan or somehow your IP tried to access a blocked port on the server, cpanel has a nice port monitoring software that tends to automatically ban nosey people..

65.6.48.30 127.0.0.1 255.255.255.255 UGH 0 0 0 lo

which would happen to be you.. its been removed now so you should be able to access it fine.

::LOL::

say what?!?!

I'm still in Computer Talk 101 :)

Originally posted by akashd
say what?!?!

I'm still in Computer Talk 101 :)
Basically, their server decided to block your IP for one reason or another. That's why you couldn't access their site - not because of a network related issue.

Daniel unblocked your IP, and now you should be able to access their site with no problems.

Best Regards,
Matt Lightner
mlightner@site5.com

IC...as long as Daniels here I have a question....

Do your dedicated services come with SSI included?? I couldn't find any reference to it on your website(unless maybe i over looked something)

Yes, SSI is a very commonly supported feature across almost all servers... but if you have any more questions feel free to email us direct.

TMG I would check out http://www.hostmatters.com/ They will allow you to set up multiple domains,and they provide topnotch service.They have several low priced plans which would probably suit you.

Check out burst.net ;P they are moving into their own NOC this weekend, and saying goodbye to VDI. They also offer the best prices for big ammounts of space...

--

Tony Mitchell
Lexton.net

"they are moving into their own NOC this weekend"
I hope not.. where is that 7 day advanced notice Sean spoke of? :o

Which demension is this happening on . ?

Originally posted by akashd
IC...as long as Daniels here I have a question....

Do your dedicated services come with SSI included?? I couldn't find any reference to it on your website(unless maybe i over looked something)

I wouldn't ask about such basic, simple things as per features. If you get a dedicated server, part of the reason is to install and run and configure it however you like, with whatever you like that's not illegal or a risk to the provider you get your server with. That said, you'd probably be better off asking if they will set up or configure certain things for you, if you got the server, so you can know to what point you can ask for things to be installed, configured or enabled before you expect something that might justify charging you for it. So, if I were you, I'd ask them what it comes with and if you can have certain things installed or configured or enabled beyond that, and if there's any extra charge for it. That way, you needn't ask about things you could enable yourself without any problem, in seconds, such as SSI.

This isn't quite what I was hoping for. Instead of narrowing my choices down you guys have _INCREASED_ my confusion by adding to my list.

Why is life so hard? ;)

So, as it stands today, I have no less than seven finalists. They are;

- HostRocket (Executive Plan)
- JaguarPC (Advanced Plan)
- Site5 (WebPower Plan)
- ThinkHost (Business Classics Plan)
- Ventures Online (Venture 4 Plan)
- Weinbar (Gold Plan)
- WizardsHosting (Plus 300 Plan)

However, I have sent an email with questions to each of these companies but TWO of them have yet to answer my email in any way. Not even an auto-responder. Nothing.
Those two companies, should they not answer my email by this evening, will be removed from my list of finalists.

Now, doesn't _ANYONE_ want to be a booster/detractor for any of these companies? I've got to narrow the list somehow and so far I don't know how to do it without signing up with ALL of them!

Help me out people, please.

Do a search on Thinkhost on this forum and I expect you'll take them off your list...

Hello,

Sorry to wake up a seemingly old thread, but I have a few questions:

1. What is this VDI thing that most hosts seem to be bothered by? Can someone please explain this? Does this mean that Site5.com/Ventures online/wizards etc are actually reselling from something called VDI?

2. I am also interested in the rankings of the following:

VenturesOnline
Site5.com
Wizards Hosting
Jaguar PC


3. Someone in this thread recommended www.burst.net, but they seem to be so slow! Even their website takes a loooong time to download! Also, I have not yet heard from Host Rocket.

Thanks for any comments.

Originally posted by ben_h
1. What is this VDI thing that most hosts seem to be bothered by? Can someone please explain this? Does this mean that Site5.com/Ventures online/wizards etc are actually reselling from something called VDI?


VDI (http://www.vdi.net) is a Network Operations Center based in New York County. If you do a search (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php) for them you will find <insert huge number> of threads on them over the last few months (particularly recently).

None of the hosts listed above (or below) are 'resellers' of VDI - they have their servers located directly inside VDI.

Originally posted by BC
None of the hosts listed above (or below) are 'resellers' of VDI - they have their servers located directly inside VDI.
Almost correct, BC. We used to have our servers located at VDI, however we have since moved them to the NAC data center.

With regards to burstnet's performance as of late, it is most likely because they are still on the VDI network. They are, however, moving to their own NOC within a matter of days. Once they are there, performance should improve.

FYI: The starter of this thread posted his personal findings at the following URL:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=9649

Best Regards,
Matt Lightner
mlightner@site5.com

Yes, Site5 USED to be at VDI, but now are at Nac.net.

Hi Matt! WTF am I doing up at 5:54AM? Well back to bed now.

And all of our new clinets are put on our servers at DI not VDI , the existing ones are moving as well :)

So, to recap, my list is now 6 companies long:

- DreamHost (Code Warrior Plan)
- HostRocket (Executive Plan)
- JaguarPC (Advanced Plan)
- Site5 (WebPower Plan)
- ThinkHost (Business Classics Plan)
- WizardsHosting (Plus 300 Plan)

Doesn't anyone have experience with these companies?


I've been doing a similar hosting search; for what it's worth,
I scratched the first 3 because (according to a listing elsewhere),
they allow adult sites. Insofar as I can tell, this seems to correlate
with other problems -- though I've seen several nice things said
about DreamHost and nothing bad, so I might reconsider that one.

Site5 and WizardsHosting have been discussed here, so I won't try
to add anything from my position of ignorance.

ThinkHost is still sort of on my list -- it looks good on paper -- though
the guy who runs irritates some of his colleagues (see
http://www.forumhosts.com/hosts5.htm ),

Common advice on choosing a bid is to throw out the bids that come in
way high or way low, partly because those guys probably didn't even
understand the problem, and to consider the ones in the middle.

But organizations are made up of real people; unless one is willing
to pay serious money for serious redundancy, you're sampling from
a broad distribution for their service. (Expert A on problem A has
to sleep, go on vacation, get sick or have a bad day sometime, and
Experts B, C and D may not know anything about problem A. If
you can pay enough that the company can afford to hire Experts A',
A'' and A''' on problem A, the distribution gets narrower and better.
This is to say, it's not at all strange to find widely divergent opinions
on hosts, especially the low-cost ones; shouldn't surprise anyone.

Originally posted by bgwhiz



I've been doing a similar hosting search; for what it's worth,
I scratched the first 3 because (according to a listing elsewhere),
they allow adult sites. ),



Just to clear one thing up , we do not allow adult sites. Im not sure what listing showed that but it is incorrect and listed in our FAQ and AUP as content we do not allow. Thanks, Jag

Originally posted by TMG
So, as it stands today, I have no less than seven finalists. They are;

- HostRocket (Executive Plan)
- JaguarPC (Advanced Plan)
- Site5 (WebPower Plan)
- ThinkHost (Business Classics Plan)
- Ventures Online (Venture 4 Plan)
- Weinbar (Gold Plan)
- WizardsHosting (Plus 300 Plan)


Assuming you haven't decided your host, I will try to narrow your choices down. You may actually cross thinkhost from the list, do a search on this forum and there are some complains about them. Now, out of the 6 on the list, 4 of them are with VDI, except Site5 and Weinbar. Now, if VDI's having problem do no bother me (which seem to bother quite some of us , and me... my server at interserver was having only 96.% uptime), then by all means go with Site5 or weinbar (although actually WizardsHosting is quite good, but even Carlos dislikes VDI's problem).

Now I have some experience with Weinbar. Although there was some support issues these past few days (due to Mich being hospitalized), I have to say they were quite good. Their network is actually quite solid. My server has 99.36% of uptime since about 3 weeks ago.

Site5 put their servers inside NAC.net. My experience with Site5/NAC will begin today, so I can't tell much. But NAC.net has so many diverse connectivity that you may want to consider. They have a total of 775 Mbps and they will be upgrading to OC12 in the future (few months, from what I have heard) to bring a total bandwith of 2000Mbps. All these numbers may not be relevant for you, but this is just another thing to consider.

Anyway, when it all comes down I have to say go either with Site5 or weinbar since they are not related to VDI . But if you are not bother with the problems with VDI, by all means take a look seriously at wizardshosting.com. Hey, where is this forum hosted? Wizardshosting.com! Besides, the owner, Carlos is really a nice guy.... you can't go wrong with him. So, there... hope your choices are now somewhat reduced :D

cheers,
:beer:

Just to clear one thing up , we do not allow adult sites. Im not sure what listing showed that but it is incorrect and listed in our FAQ and


The listings came from a search on FindAHost.com . I apologize for any inaccuracy; judging from your FAQ
I'd guess that their database is either out of date or they were confused by the ambiguity...

http://www.jaguarpc.com/faq.php#19 :

Do you host adult sites?
No, we have temporarily stopped the signup of adult sites

:) that temp. has been going on 10 mo. now . I guess we can make that just say NO.

For all of you who are interested, I've finally chosen a hosting service. I want to thank everyone for their help and insight during my quest. Your knowledge and opinions were invaluable.

The name of the host and my reasoning can be found here (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=9649).

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=9649

Again, thank you all for your help.:)

http://www.*****************

$35 a year!

I'm pretty new to all of this, but I got an account with Ventures Online last week and I love them! Any time I have contacted them before or after I bought the account they respond to me within minutes. Other services I contacted took hours or days to respond.

Brian

You're right Brian, those guys are amazing :)

I have been with f5hosting for just over a week and have had great speed and the support has been outstanding, I believe there are very few host out there that are really interested in there people, most are interested in the money. finding a host that meets your needs is hard but to find one that also is commited to hosting is even harder. I had the "pleasure" of being hosted by "T......." (name withheld) for a period of time and had no response or help or account set-up.