Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Host Recommendations?

[tribecca]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here, and I've become disgruntled!

I have been running websites for about 5 years now. About 2 years ago, I started a website for the Sims gaming community, offering downloads for the game.

I typically need about 100gb of transfer, and at least 4000mb of disk space.

The hosts I have dealt with over the years with the site are:

Ipowerweb- Ok, but support was lacking, and dial-up users had massive problems accessing my site. Not enough bandwidth transfer.

SimpleHost- NO support, a lot of downtime. Bad experience.

Lypha- This is my host at the moment, that I have had for a year, hosting the Sims site, and a personal site. I had never had ANY problems with them up until two weeks ago when my domain expired. THEY HAVE STILL NOT RENEWED MY DOMAIN. While in the past, their support has been superb, they have given me two weeks worth of runarounds back and forth from 5 different email addy's. 4 of the email addy's were from Lypha, the other was from Imhosted. The final email that I received from them was on the 21st saying my site will be up again soon. (??) I have even referred two others to this hosting, and one of them are also being jerked around as of late.

On that note, I am switching hosts because of the horrible way I have been treated over the past two weeks. I have no access to my files (the last time I backed up was about a month ago, but that back up is on my old fried motherboard comp).

I have been trying to do research on hosting, but I do not want to fall into bad support or downtime. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!

[E:magine - Aaron]

sorry to hear about your bad exsperiences.

try any free trials, etc.. and also send emails to their sales team have a chat on live help sections if avlable check support forums for comments.

and ion a trial as you may need to anyway send some support tickets/contacts and see how the response. time wise and proffessionalism.

[crucialx]

As suggested, contacting a host and seeing what sort of impression they give can always help.

[eSited]

What sort of budget are you looking at?

[aingaran]

One question, were you not sent any notices about the domain name expiring prior to it expriing? What is the status of the domain name right now? (when you look it up in whois.sc?)

[SASSINC]

Tribecca,

Sorry to hear of your recent experience. What is your domain name? I would be curious as to who the actual registrar is. You can contqact them and make your case (to get it back). Course, you will have to pay to renew it.

What kind of budget are you on?

Couple of things to look for in a host:

• 24/7 Support
• An actual office phone number
• Money back guarantee

Naturaly those are but a few items to look for, but in your case, may be the most important.

I wish you luck in the future!

- Mike

[tribecca]

Thanks for the responses.

Before I signed up with Lypha, I sent them numerous emails with questions, and their responses were within an hour or less of waiting, that is why I went with them in the first place...hmm, goes to show! ha ha I did explain how I was not getting the service I needed elsewhere, and what my site was about.

I did email Bluehost this morning with questions, but I am still awaiting an answer. But they are still under the amount of space/bandwidth that I need.

As far as budget goes, I would like to stay under $15 a month. I looked at Lunarpages, but I really can't afford $22 a month. However, Micfo's MG Deluxe package looked reasonable for what I need.


I was NEVER sent a notice of my domain expiring.
My site was there on a Sunday. Monday when I went to update my site, it was not there. So I emailed them, and they told me that there was an error in the DNS zone file and they fixed it. The next day, I contacted them again, and THAT is when they told me my domain had expired!

When I look it up it is still registered to me, but says it's expired.

[tribecca]

My domain is tribecca-sims.com

[aingaran]

Who is the registrar?

[tribecca]

Well, I got the domain with the hosting package through Lypha. However, I am assuming it is through Imhosted, being that I received an email from their billing email.

[SASSINC]

Tribecca,

Your domains registrar is:

Registration Service Provider:
name: DNSPROTECT.COM
tel: 206-350-1777
fax: 206-350-1766
web:http://www.dnsprotect.com

Contact them directly and fill them in with what is going on. They will likely be happy to assist you.

- Mike

[eSited]

Just curious.....

As far as budget goes, I would like to stay under $15 a month. I looked at Lunarpages, but I really can't afford $22 a month. However, Micfo's MG Deluxe package looked reasonable for what I need.

is that $15 for 4000MB Storage 100GB Bandwidth? (Around there)

[tribecca]

Thanks Mike for the information.
When I go on to the direct url given, it takes me to a spam reporting page. I did email them just now, and I will call them if I do not hear back soon.

Yes, around $15 or under for 3-4000 mb of storage and at least 100gb of transfer.

[Justin]

tribecca,

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but just a suggestion for you, why don't you plan on doing some mild advertising on your website to be able to up your budget for the hosting I am sure you'd find a more quality host for a bit higher monthly fee. Hate to say it but to get those kind of resources for only $15 a month is able to be done but then you're talking more quantity then quality as you have already unfortunately experienced. Just my observation on what is going on anymore but that is massive overselling for that cost only.

-Justin

[tribecca]

Thanks for the tip Justin.
I've never ventured into that arena. But the more my site grows every year, it may be worth looking into.