Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Reseller Hosting : VDI x Alabanza & Recent Problems

[Amplify_girl]

>> Ok, this may get reealy long.... <<

Some days ago I asked for help with finding what would be the perfect Reseller Program *for me*.
Well, when I was almost signing up for an account with one of the Alabanza-based Hosts, I visited this forum again and discovered about Alabanza's increase in the price...

Now I'm a bit affraid of seeing those hosting companies (Alabanza-based) incresing their prices too.. or changing servers.. or, even, Alabanza making another change...
Then I saw some oppinions about VDI and, here's the thing:

I have some questions that maybe you who have servers at Alabanza's and/or VDI's NOC can help me answer:

1. Alabanza seems to be much more expensive than VDI.. so why are "vdi-based" companies SO much more expensive than the "alabanza-based" ones??!! Anyone could recommend me one with better prices??

2. Anyone can show the primary differences bettwin these companies *now* that Alabanza seems to be passing through an instable time??

3. What about SUPPORT and UP-TIME..??

4. What "insights" could you give me considering that:

- I live outside the U.S., and so do my clients (I can do well with support in english, but a customizable Control Panel to my clients would be good..);

- I have no experience with server management, so: I was planning to either start with a reseller program or start leasing a managed server (in other words, paying for tech support); Would that be too complicated to do?? Also, I study in the mornings....

- I don't like alabanza's 50Gb/month bandwidth, specially because now I'm planning to put my big portal-type website (almost ready now) in a dedicated server, and use it to promote my hosting services...

- The above mentioned brings a problem: integrating my portal webite with my hosting services (VDI is best) X or having an automated billing sistem..(Alabanza's best for that..);

Well, what can you tell me about that??
Thanks a lot!!

[kunal]

1. Alabanza seems to be much more expensive than VDI.. so why are "vdi-based" companies SO much more expensive than the "alabanza-based" ones??!! Anyone could recommend me one with better prices??

They wanna make more profit? You could check out http://www.ultraspeedusa.com. There prices are not very expensive.


2. Anyone can show the primary differences bettwin these companies *now* that Alabanza seems to be passing through an instable time??

Alabaanza is way more expensive then VDI. But alabanza has a automated system. Plus, alabanza charges per CP you use [ outrageous aint it? ]


3. What about SUPPORT and UP-TIME..??

Both have good support. Alabanza has been having some outages recently. I think it was a router problem, and was solved quickly. Otherwise their uptimes are the same.

4. What "insights" could you give me considering that:

- I live outside the U.S., and so do my clients (I can do well with support in english, but a customizable Control Panel to my clients would be good..);

- I have no experience with server management, so: I was planning to either start with a reseller program or start leasing a managed server (in other words, paying for tech support); Would that be too complicated to do?? Also, I study in the mornings....

- I don't like alabanza's 50Gb/month bandwidth, specially because now I'm planning to put my big portal-type website (almost ready now) in a dedicated server, and use it to promote my hosting services...

- The above mentioned brings a problem: integrating my portal webite with my hosting services (VDI is best) X or having an automated billing sistem..(Alabanza's best for that..);


If you are looking at automation go with alabanza, and if you are looking for a good deal, VDI would be your best bet.

Since you are considering a managed server, you look at
ultraspeedusa.com.
catalog.com
dialtoneinternet.com --> beware of there 95% rule
dedicatedhosting.com


Basically, the bottom line is, if you can pay a lot, go with alabanza, esle you have the other good alternatives, but they lack the automation alabanza has.

[UnitedTec]

Amplify_girl,

I don't think you would have a problem with a host from either one of these companies. Alabanza seems to have had some connection problems in the last few day, but then so did VDI a few months ago.

1. Alabanza seems to be much more expensive than VDI.. so why are "vdi-based" companies SO much more expensive than the "alabanza-based" ones??!!

This is just my opion, but many hosts today seem to think the only way they can attract customers is by having the cheepest prices. I don't belive this is true, look at FutureQuest, for example. They don't try to offer something they can not afford to give you. You may pay a little more, but I still have one site hosted there, and they have some of the best support and services around. It's not enough to make enough to just cover the bills every month. If you don't make enough profit to invest in products and services, very soon your company will be left behind.

- I live outside the U.S., and so do my clients (I can do well with support in english, but a customizable Control Panel to my clients would be good..);

The control panel offered through VDI is the most customizable I have ever seen. The whole control panel is based on HTML, so you can change the look and layout any way you want. Updates to the control panel are actualy updates to the scripts behind the HTML pages, and in no way affect the way your control panel will act.

- The above mentioned brings a problem: integrating my portal webite with my hosting services (VDI is best) X or having an automated billing sistem..(Alabanza's best for that..);

I know that VDI is currently working on adding the automatic billing feature, but I don't know how far along they are.

If I can help you with anything else, please contact me at the email address below.

[JayC]

Originally posted by Amplify_girl
1. Alabanza seems to be much more expensive than VDI.. so why are "vdi-based" companies SO much more expensive than the "alabanza-based" ones??!!

1) Most of the current Alabanza hosts signed up under, and are still paying, a $400/month rate scheduled to double for the second year. At $400, Alabanza's price isn't much different from VDI's

2) There are, right now anyway, many more Alabanza-based hosts than VDI-based hosts. While a number of Alabanza hosts do offer pricing for less than the fewer typical VDI hosts, many are in the same range; some are probably more.

It's possible, I suppose, that Alabanza's automation really does allow a host to operate for less at this time. It's also possible that a number of the hosts you look at, no matter where they are based, are new operations that haven't given deep consideration to what pricing they must have to survive over the long term and are simply rushing to undercut the competition.

I wouldn't say that's the case with every low-cost host, because certainly there are companies getting a decent margin by selling a large number of $5 or $6 a month accounts. But if you look at a new company even if it has 20 or 30 or 50 clients at that rate, it isn't paying for the server -- whether it's at Alabanza, VDI, or elsewhere -- let alone service and support. I'm not sure how long you'll see some of those companies around.

So if you're looking for stability, finding the rock-bottom price might not be your highest priority. If you're starting a new hosting company and want to surive, it might not be your best strategy.

[Chicken]

Well I can tell you that automation is in fact worth quite a bit. Not that setting up an account is that difficult, but even with a admin CP, it can still be a bit time consuming to set it up, set up DNS, do anything related to customer management/billing, etc.

Althogh I like VDI, I would prefer a system that once all the pre-sales stuff is out of the way, the customer can simply go to the site, sign up and everything gets set up and is ready to go 15 minutes later (without you having to do much of anything, except approve the account).

Billing. I don't think I have to tell you (since I know you visit forums), that hosts looking for fluid billing solutions comes up often. Integrated billing will be wonderful at VDI, but I wonder when it will happen. I believe it will, but as of this time, VDI doesn't offer it. I do believe site5.com (VDI host) has something that works now (billing system of some sort). Might be worth checking out...

[JonnyQuags]

Actually I thin alabanza companies are more expensive than vdi hosts. I work at a vdi based company and would say my prices are better than a lot of alabanza based hosts

I have found when it comes to bandwitdh vdi hosts offer more of it for a less price, but thats just my opinion. VDI is less expensive.

[Amplify_girl]

Originally posted by Tcoy
Actually I thin alabanza companies are more expensive than vdi hosts. I work at a vdi based company and would say my prices are better than a lot of alabanza based hosts

If you or anybody else would want to recommend me a company that is VDI-based and doesn't want to put a link to it on the Forum, just e-mail me: amplify@bol.com.br

Thanks!!

[Chicken]

VDI hosts that I know of/would recommend (purely on talking to them or seeing posts about them):

ultraspeedusa.com
site5.com
dids.com