OK some of these are probably basic questions that I might have already had answered from reading either in the forums here or elsewhere, however after the migraine I have aquired from so much conflicting information I would like to get a consolidated set of answers if possible.

First off my partners and I are looking into expanding our business into web hosting, primarily local businesses and gamining clan/guild web page/forum hosting. Since none of us has extensive experience with web servers, quick reliable tech support and quality service (uptime etc) is an essential component we are looking for.

Now I have seen all the hosts that list unlimited disk space/bandwidth and read most of the comments regarding this type of business practice. Most of the hosts that I have seen that come highly recommended only have a max of say 350G disk space and say 1500G of bandwidth at their top tier plan. My question on this however is isn't this very limited? Maybe it is just my understanding but for something like say a guild webpage/fourum at say an average of 10G space and 150G bandwidth a month would be about average, then you are looking at a max of 35 accounts and you are maxed out with no more room to grow correct? Is there a better space/bandwidth sizing option for this type of marke, or maybe better yet what are the average package sizes for resellers?

I have also read a lot about VPS and dedicated servers. Actually one of my partners was told that reseller hosting was a scam the only way to make any money and guarantee solid growth was through dedicated servers. Even if this is the case none of us have the expertise required for running a dedicated server at this point, as my understanding on this is that unlike a shared space reseller accounts that get a host of support options and applications to make setup and account maintenance easier dedicated servers require far more technical knowledge.

Well for now that will have to be it kids are nagging about going out to eat. Thamks in advacne for any help and suggestions.

Most Web Hosting account I host have around 20MB and 1GB, none goes over 5GB.

I suggest you start low and grow, not just jump into a VPS with lots of resources you won't use.

If you go for a server, I would recommend Managed Servers, as you say none of your partners of you know how to manage one.

I hope this helped :D

Reseller is a good option to start web hosting business.
You can start with any Reseller plans, start from the small one or any that suits to your current needs. You can always upgrade to higher plan at any time (most host providers allow you this).
When your business grows, you can start to move on to VPS or Dedicated Server. So, don't look too far, just concern and do what you can do now :)

Reseller hosting is not a scam at all. It is the best option to start your business because it is way cheaper than a dedicated server.

Maybe it is just my understanding but for something like say a guild webpage/fourum at say an average of 10G space and 150G bandwidth a month would be about average

Simply put, you're not really going to be able to host 10 sites like than on a reseller account. If you plan on specializing in hosting popular forums, you need to use dedicated servers (and sell semidedicated/vps or dedicated servers), and price your service differently: space and bandwidth are for the most part negligible, CPU and memory usage are important.

Deroba is right, the typical customer doesn't have anywhere near the size and popularity of the website you described.

Most sites tend to be small and receive very little traffic. I agree with the numbers Deroba quoted. Most typical websites use about 20-30MB of disk space and less than 1GB of bandwidth. Those fit quite nicely in most reseller accounts.

Big sites with lots of traffic are generally not the types of sites that you would host in a web hosting reseller account. A 10GB forum that uses 150GB of bandwidth would actually benefit from having its own VPS or dedicated server. A forum like that is usually going to use more CPU time and memory than what is allowed in shared hosting or reseller plans.

Actually one of my partners was told that reseller hosting was a scam the only way to make any money and guarantee solid growth was through dedicated servers.

I'm sure your partner got advice from someone selling dedicated server :D

Thank you for all the quick replies.

Let me clarify the example I gave of the disk space and bandwidth per account was just random amounts, I have not been able to track down what average space and bandwidth is for a guild website with forums yet. I sincerely doubted that, as pointed out, a given site would use anywhere near those amounts, but being very new to this I was trying to get a feel for what the averages were.

And yes his friends are running dedicated servers so after talking to him some more I am taking a lot of what they had to say with a grain of salt.

A 10GB forum that uses 150GB of bandwidth would actually benefit from having its own VPS or dedicated server.

Or a Semi-Dedicated server, which would actually be better than a VPS, IMO. Especially if you only need more resources and don't require "Root Access".

You need to first ask what are your requirements. How much disc space. How much data transfer/bandwidth required? If unsure, probably the forum would be the most intensive. How many users are you expecting on your forum?

I agree. Starting low and going up from that seems to work ok. My advice would be to start on VPS and gradually move up to dedicated.

I know folks have been recommending the VPS route which can work *except* for when you take on that one mammoth customer that happens to contribute greatly to your revenue but also to your VPS resources (generally causing most of the headache).

Keep this in mind when deciding and as some have pointed out, you might want to consider going to a semi-dedicated account which is sort of like non-oversold reseller hosting. You can be more comfortable working with these than being in an oversold reseller account and being poked by your company due to over-consumption of resources.