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  1. #1

    Windows Shared host Recommendation

    I have already spent hours researching possible hosts on the various search engines, this forum, and other review sites.

    First let me say, I have never tried to research a topic and become so frustrated! The amount of mis-information, fake "review and/or top 10" sites, poorly disguised forum posts, etc. on selecting a reliable host is mind boggling. This forum seems to contain some good information, but, it is hard work trying to pull out the real recommendations.

    I really believe that affiliate marketing, referral fees and sheer number of competitors has made this industry so convoluted (online), that making an informed choice by the customer is nearly impossible.

    That said, I'm here for advice. I realize I probably sound like every other new poster here - "which host do I choose"?

    I am the Ecommerce Manager for a small company with an online store. The store is coded with ASP and I need ASP.NET 2.0 and MS SQL 2005 on a Windows server. Basic requirements are 5-7GB storage and 50GB transfer.

    Most important, I need to know my site is going to operate most of the time, and the email for the 20 people in my company is going to work. Like everyone, I need reliable service and good tech support when something goes wrong, or I need help. My job depends upon it.

    My current host doesn't meet the above requirements, so I need to change. After careful review, I'm considering Verio, Applied Innovations, BulkRegister (Enom) and Lunar pages.

    Any feedback on the above will be truly appreciated. Any other hosts I should check out, please advise.

    Sorry If I spoke out of turn and thanks for your help.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    East Coast // NYC
    Posts
    1,698
    You wouldn't be the first person confused about hosting. The best approach would be to get a list of hosting companies (10 to 15) and start researching them by reading reviews here on WHT. From there start eliminating different hosts and you'll be lucky if you'll be left with one that meets your needs exactly.

    I wish you the best of luck with your search.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Regina, Saskatchewan, CA
    Posts
    221
    My advice would be to forget about the hype and make contact with a few hosts. Make some phone calls (or use any available live chat feature) and get to know one or two people from the their sales department. Start off with questions about billing procedures (to get a feel for how well they treat you in that respect) then move on to more hosting plan-specific technical questions. Come up with a question that no sales rep could answer without help from technical support then see how they deal with it. The idea would be to not only see if they can provide for you the service or feature that you've requested but to determine how efficiently and accurately they can produce their response.

    Examine the routine server-side tasks that you will likely require then find out what goes into requesting that they be performed for you by technical suport. Most hosting companies boast 24/7 support but find out if their 24/7 staff has the access to the servers that you require. Find out what their policy dictacts that their maximum turn-around time for technical respones is.

    Also, don't let yourself be mislead by hosts that promise the moon and the stars. Bandwidth and disk space cost money. Hosts that promise (nearly) unlimited GB of traffic and storage space per month are only trying ot kid you. This again falls back to billing procedures. What happens when you hit the limits allocated by the confinds of your hosting package? Do they terminate your service or do they simply charge you for extra resource usage? If they charge, how much do they charge? Do they provide a means by which you can monitor this usage? How flexible are they in their billing practices if your hosting account continuously uses more than what your hosting plan allows?

    I too wish you luck with finding a good host that will meet your needs.

    Bill
    Bill - Support Analyst - Liveblock Auctions International
    http://www.LiveGlobalBid.com

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    667
    Hi CL2007, welcome to WHT! Your entirely correct, there is a lot of mis-information out there. I can't comment much more then the above posts already have, it really is best to take your time, make a list and do plenty of research. It's not easy and is time consuming, things that shouldn't be. If your the go-to guy at your office, I recommend learning to like this place a lot. Hang out here often. People here are absolutely brutal on hosts that screw up and we can usually spot one pretty quick. So hang around, you'll learn a lot. Always stay away from the oversellers and just because you get recommendations from people, still do your research. It really will make your job better in the long run. Look around for a host that offers business grade hosting, or application hosting. Best of luck!
    Jim - 2Macs H-Sphere Web Hosting
    Since 2001 - H-Sphere Clustered Shared Linux & Windows Hosting
    Fully Managed Services| Custom Web Designs
    Unconditional, 30 Day Money back Guarantee!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    293
    If you are looking for a Windows host with ASP/ASP.NET, then you should look for a host that focuses on this technology. I would recommend checking out http://www.411asp.net/home/hosting. This page lists a bunch of hosts that support .NET.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    96
    You did not mention price. I would advise a VPS option rather than shared account for a business. This is more for security. Also, you can add your own SSL cert.

    Also, are you fully committed to the ASP software? If not, Linux VPS options are cheaper and there are many good PHP shopping carts.
    Last edited by dm_fw; 03-02-2007 at 07:31 PM.
    Computer: A machine that can make the wrong decision faster that you!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,590
    Quote Originally Posted by dm_fw
    You did not mention price. I would advise a VPS option rather than shared account for a business. This is more for security. .

    Not a bad recommendation but it will cost allot more, I personally know from experience running windows servers aint cheap, and then security will cost more as securing windows is not the easiest thing to do and if permissions aint perfect there is always someone out there to try and hack away!
    The Hosting Heroes Ltd - over 20 years in the UK hosting industry.
    Website Hosting | Reseller Hosting | Cloud VPS Servers | Dedicated Servers | VPS Reseller for WHMCS
    www.thehostingheroes.com

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    EU - east side
    Posts
    21,920
    First of all, welcome to WHT!

    Second, I'll give you one bit of general advice: separate the reputation of hosts, by service. Good registrar does not imply good host. Good Linux host, does not imply good Windows host. Make sure that the provider you go with has a good, solid reputation for the service that you plan to buy from them.

    Good luck!

  9. #9
    I'm using www.successfulhosting.com for 3 month without any problem.
    I've 100 uptime. Support always answer with in minuts.

    I contected many time sale on chat for tech support and slaes also help me and even they login to my cp and configuered my cp.

    And I've open many tickets and have long chat session with tech and sales as I was new to h-sphere.


    I'm very happy with dem. (They don't have dedicated server )
    www.visD.no Traffic exchange

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    509
    Quote Originally Posted by CL2007
    After careful review, I'm considering Verio, Applied Innovations, BulkRegister (Enom) and Lunar pages.
    I'll never consider using bulkregister/enom for hosting. I'm using their domain registration service since 2002 and in last few months their customer support has really gone to dogs. It appears that they no longer like to answer support tickets.

    I have used Hostmysite.com in the past and they were reliable.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Tega Cay
    Posts
    823
    Look into hostmysite.com and serverintellect.com

  12. #12

    Thanks

    Thanks for all of the comments.

    Cost is not really an issue - I'll glady pay for quality and good support. I'll look into Windows VPS as a possible solution.

    I'm looking into hostmysite as well as those mentioned above.

    I'm curious if there is a specific host you recommend Bill?

    Also, any feedback on Verio tech support is appreciated.

    Jeff

  13. #13
    Jeff, a VPS will require to have knowledge of running and configuring a server -- similar to a dedicated setup with less resources. Just an FYI.
    ReliableSite.Net LLC - Offering Enterprise Grade Dedicated Servers Since 2006 [New York City metro / Miami, FL / Los Angeles, CA]
    Customers are our #1 priority - Read Our Reviews
    Need epic pricing on 1G and 10G unmetered? We have amazing deals and a 10 minute setup time! Click here to view incredible deals.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    144
    Quote Originally Posted by CL2007
    I have already spent hours researching possible hosts on the various search engines, this forum, and other review sites.

    First let me say, I have never tried to research a topic and become so frustrated! The amount of mis-information, fake "review and/or top 10" sites, poorly disguised forum posts, etc. on selecting a reliable host is mind boggling. This forum seems to contain some good information, but, it is hard work trying to pull out the real recommendations.

    I really believe that affiliate marketing, referral fees and sheer number of competitors has made this industry so convoluted (online), that making an informed choice by the customer is nearly impossible.

    That said, I'm here for advice. I realize I probably sound like every other new poster here - "which host do I choose"?

    I am the Ecommerce Manager for a small company with an online store. The store is coded with ASP and I need ASP.NET 2.0 and MS SQL 2005 on a Windows server. Basic requirements are 5-7GB storage and 50GB transfer.

    Most important, I need to know my site is going to operate most of the time, and the email for the 20 people in my company is going to work. Like everyone, I need reliable service and good tech support when something goes wrong, or I need help. My job depends upon it.

    My current host doesn't meet the above requirements, so I need to change. After careful review, I'm considering Verio, Applied Innovations, BulkRegister (Enom) and Lunar pages.

    Any feedback on the above will be truly appreciated. Any other hosts I should check out, please advise.

    Sorry If I spoke out of turn and thanks for your help.
    Unless you're ok with waiting 2 - 4 days between ticket replies, I would suggest staying away from Enom.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    96
    Yes, a VPS would require knowledge of Win 2003. What a VPS SHOULD provde is a firewall from anyone else on that system.

    If you job depends on the server, spend the $$$ and check that the hosting co. can not boot you w/out due warning.

    Also, I am using http://3essentials.com/multiple-domain-web-hosting.asp, which has a B10 plan for $15 that matches your needs. I have not had any issues with the host except for PLESK access/usage
    Last edited by dm_fw; 03-05-2007 at 05:51 PM.
    Computer: A machine that can make the wrong decision faster that you!

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Castle Pines, CO
    Posts
    7,189

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Washington State
    Posts
    1,088
    I recommend Siteground. Great site and has never treated me bad!

  18. #18
    Again, Thanks for all of the help.

    I've narrowed it to 3:

    HostmySite.com
    EDThosting.com
    Verio.com

    All offer the specs I need in a Windows server, All seem to have some good recommendations and I feel pretty comfortable that hosting and support will be somewhat reliable.

    Does anyone know how good the email management at these companies might be? I'm hoping to find a host that provides a good level of spam and virus protection, since several users in our company are inundated with spam.

    Thanks.

    Jeff

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,590
    Quote Originally Posted by CL2007
    Again, Thanks for all of the help.

    I've narrowed it to 3:

    HostmySite.com
    EDThosting.com
    Verio.com

    All offer the specs I need in a Windows server, All seem to have some good recommendations and I feel pretty comfortable that hosting and support will be somewhat reliable.

    Does anyone know how good the email management at these companies might be? I'm hoping to find a host that provides a good level of spam and virus protection, since several users in our company are inundated with spam.

    Thanks.

    Jeff
    Hi

    Spam is a total nightmare so I understand your concern.

    Check with the host if the mail server includes anti spam protection. Also some good anti spam features include RDNS check and Greylistings.

    I know smartermail 4 does this.
    The Hosting Heroes Ltd - over 20 years in the UK hosting industry.
    Website Hosting | Reseller Hosting | Cloud VPS Servers | Dedicated Servers | VPS Reseller for WHMCS
    www.thehostingheroes.com

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by CyberHostPro
    Hi

    Spam is a total nightmare so I understand your concern.

    Check with the host if the mail server includes anti spam protection. Also some good anti spam features include RDNS check and Greylistings.

    I know smartermail 4 does this.
    Clarification: HostMySite.com uses SM4 on all new accounts, so these would be supported.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Calca, Cusco, Peru
    Posts
    13

    Question

    Quote Originally Posted by dm_fw View Post
    Also, I am using http://3essentials.com/multiple-domain-web-hosting.asp, which has a B10 plan for $15 that matches your needs. I have not had any issues with the host except for PLESK access/usage
    Hi,

    What issues did you have with PLESK access/usage?

    Thanks, Michael

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