Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : web hosts in general...

[Disjuku]

hmm, it seems that every time I want to get a webhost, it is a major hastle, they are FULL of hidden costs, never give any good description of what they offer and usually only offer a few distinct offers - where if you get one thing, you have to get all the other things you might never need!

For example - if you want a website with very high bandwidth and very high disk space - but DONT want all the emails, CGI, PHP etc, you cant really get it :/

In my mind the web host industry is very quickly getting a rather bad name for itself - and I think I would be better off to get a host near to where I live... but I have looked for NZ based webhosts before and they all seem to charge an exceedingly high rate for very limited services...

Do other people have the same hastles with them - and what about more expensive sites (buisness sites etc) - are they easier?

The main problems I find are:

• Hidden costs - they advertise and offer their prices for the cheapest services - which most people would want more than
• they have bad support
• they leave out the things they dont have - ie. they will show a list with all these technical things, but if they dont have CGI or something, they will just leave it off the list - which makes comparisons rather difficult
• The whole "unlimited bandwidth" thing - they offer things they dont have

I dont know WHY - maybe because it is so easy to get into the buisness - maybe because they dont feel so restricted by being online - other buisnesses will avoid false advertising etc...

[CybexHost]

I tend to stay away from hosts that offer unlimited bandwidth, it's usually a bad idea... The more expensive a host is does not translate into better support or services either.

I know for a fact that our sales staff offers custom plans as well as almost every other host. Just contact a host you like, gauge their support, and ask for a custom plan.

And always ask if they have these specific things you want too.

Their hidden costs should be visible in their TOS too, so I'd strongly recommend reviewing that before purchasing anything.

[Disjuku]

Yes, I always go and look around for the small print - and nearly always find something dodgy in it and scrap that as a host :/

[TheServerExperts]

Originally posted by CybexHost
I tend to stay away from hosts that offer unlimited bandwidth, it's usually a bad idea... The more expensive a host is does not translate into better support or services either.

I know for a fact that our sales staff offers custom plans as well as almost every other host. Just contact a host you like, gauge their support, and ask for a custom plan.

And always ask if they have these specific things you want too.

Their hidden costs should be visible in their TOS too, so I'd strongly recommend reviewing that before purchasing anything.

reading the TOS is a basic thing to do and should you have question about it contact the hosting provider

or look for a other hosting provider


cheers

[Martie]

Im not sure the procedure you used when finding your past web hosts but one thing that is very clear to me is people do not do the correct research before signing up. Of course every situation is different but if time permits my suggestion would be to make a short list of a few you like and send off some inquiries to them, see how they respond and go from there. Check out their client reviews and follow up with past, current clients. You can also check here for feedback, and other forums. Run a search on google.
I would recommend crossing hosts OFF your list though that offer unlimited bandwidth.
Good Luck

[cartika-andrew]

Originally posted by Disjuku
hmm, it seems that every time I want to get a webhost, it is a major hastle, they are FULL of hidden costs, never give any good description of what they offer and usually only offer a few distinct offers - where if you get one thing, you have to get all the other things you might never need!

Im not sure why hosts would have hidden costs - I think there are many hosts available that do not operate in this manner...

For example - if you want a website with very high bandwidth and very high disk space - but DONT want all the emails, CGI, PHP etc, you cant really get it :/

Well - I would say that most of what you pay for from a resource perspective is space and bandwith... The other features really just come standard and dont particularly cost a host money (unless they are abused). Generally, this is what the TOS is for - to protect a host & their other customers from an incidence of abuse with respect to the above mentioned features...

If your space/bandwith requirements are "high" - you may want to look at a VPS or dedicated solution - not certain without additional details - but this may be a better fit for you...

After space/bandwith - youre really paying for support, any added value the host is providing (which you may or may not want) and quality - backbone, infrastructure, redundancy, etc...

Though I agree with the previous statement that a higher price doesnt always translate into better service - I do think this statement is correct in some cases... High quality bandwith, hardware, backups systems, etc - are all factors which can increase the pricing for service - its really upto the consumer to determine what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it...

Hope this helps, and best of luck in your search for a host - there are many good ones out there .....

[Disjuku]

Yeah :/ - the thing is that they ALL have some sort of hidden catches on them... it is MUCH worse than most other buisnesses :| Makes me think about tripod/geocities etc - the larger companys - where as I would rather be with a smaller more specialised host, those larger ones do look to take a lot of the hastle out of things :/

[Disjuku]

hmm, by hidden costs I mean like... with one before, it advertised them as being about 10 dolars, then when you go to order it (I clicked the order button to look for things like that -_-) it says its ONLY 10 dolars if you pay for a year, otherwise it was about 20 dolars... the main point I am making is just that the hosting industry in general is of much lower quality (from my experience) than other buisnesses, which tell you what they offer and for now much, no sneeky tricks to try to trip you up etc - which just looses them customers like me, I would walk away from a great host because of a small catch - just because it tells me something about them, how they operate, their morals etc... I would rather take my money to a place I can trust.

[markjut]

Many places have hidden costs like servers always have the price without a control panel on which seems a bit pointless and annoying to me

[JBDesign]

Always go for the one without setup fee's, i think setup fee is a waste of time, i run a hosting company myself and wouldnt dream of charging setup fee for a shared server, ok maybe a dedicated.





Regards,
JB

[cartika-andrew]

Originally posted by Disjuku
hmm, by hidden costs I mean like... with one before, it advertised them as being about 10 dolars, then when you go to order it (I clicked the order button to look for things like that -_-) it says its ONLY 10 dolars if you pay for a year, otherwise it was about 20 dolars...

Hi Disjuku - Its unfortunate that practise exists - but, I would say this statement is not true for the majority - especially the hosts around here

the main point I am making is just that the hosting industry in general is of much lower quality (from my experience) than other buisnesses, which tell you what they offer and for now much, no sneeky tricks to try to trip you up etc -

Yes, a few bad apples have tarnished all our reputations - sadly - Ihave to agree with you - however, there are many professional companies out there

which just looses them customers like me, I would walk away from a great host because of a small catch - just because it tells me something about them, how they operate, their morals etc... I would rather take my money to a place I can trust.

If there were more consumers like you there would be less of those companies

It is refreshing to hear - Im certain you will find a good host on this board that can accomodate you... There are many good ones available...

[Disjuku]

hmm, I dont atcually mind the setup fee much - as they are usually fairly small... but yeah, I'm sure it wouldnt cost them 20 odd dolars or however much it is to set it up...

[Disjuku]

hehe, yeah, I have gone through the process about 3 times getting a free site, and tried once to get a paid site, but gave up that time because it just wasnt worth the effort -_-

Hopefully I will manage to find one sooner or later XD

[Disjuku]

and whats up with the header thingies at the top of about half of the hosts?

http://www.cybexhost.com/

http://www.lunarpages.com/

http://www.stormhosts.net/

just some of the ones I have noticed - they all have a server with flashy lines etc O.o - are they all run by the same people or osmething? O.o

[Sposs]

Originally posted by Disjuku
hmm, I dont atcually mind the setup fee much - as they are usually fairly small... but yeah, I'm sure it wouldnt cost them 20 odd dolars or however much it is to set it up...

Well do you know how much it costs to set-up a server? pay wages to 24/7 staff?pay for your data centre?pay office rent and all other bill's associated with that?