Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : My top 2

[katers]

Ok, I have finally narrowed down my decision to two hosting companies. http://www.bluefishhosting.com/ http://www.montecarlohosting.net/ Both of these places have been very helpful answering questions, Monte Carlo even call me, which I have never heard of. So, I think I am safe in saying that they both would offer great customer service.

For those who may have read my previous posts, I am looking for hosting for primarily a forum. I anticipate between 200-400 members. The forum has only been live for a week so I don't know what traffic will be like in the future. I have not been able to anything positive or negative about these places. Has anyone ever used either of them?

Thank you for your help (again) you are a great bunch.

[katers]

Hasn't anyone heard of either of these?

[UH-Matt]

How did you find both these companies?

I have never heard of them before and they both look like completely different deal.

bluefish looks like it oversells shed loads and montecarlo is the opposite... why are you comparing both of these?

[katers]

Originally Posted by UH-Matt

How did you find both these companies?

why are you comparing both of these?

Bluefish I found by doing a google search for hosts and the other was the domainname for one of the techs for SMF.

Is this a bad thing? Now I am really confused, I thought it was a good thing if they are not high profile.

[katers]

Can you please tell me why you said this?

[DLee]

Originally Posted by katers

Can you please tell me why you said this?

I think he's just curious as to how these choices came about. There are thousands of hosts to choose from, most have been logged somehow here in WHT. I couldn't find anything from a user that represents bluefishhosting ( I didn't look that hard) but I could easily find something from Monte Carlo. This at least means they are part of a community they know has a large influence on their customers.

Rather than ask where you found them, my question is why not go with a well known hosting solution? Other than a large support load, I don't think a high profile business is a bad thing.

[katers]

When I had picked a couple before, two that were well known, then people were telling me I shouldn't go with places that are too well known, because they oversell and whatever.

I don't personally care what kind of exposure they get, I just want to know if the choices I made will fit my needs. And because I am ignorant to what all my needs are, I need help.

[DLee]

If you are running a forum and perhaps a few small pages on the side then I don't think there is a need to do as much homework as you have. You'll find a proper host for your needs all over.

You need to know how much bandwidth you currently use and weather or not that business can supply you with it at a plan you can afford. You need to know how much space you take up and again, weather or not the company provides ample space in the plan you choose. Both of these need to be suited for growth in the future. And all business will offer you an upgrade to a higher or custom plan... all of them.

Past that, a forum requires the use of things that all plans offer now-a-days. So go to it and do it.

Overselling is not an issue to you; its an issue to the business. I think there is more of a push to not support them for ethical reasons rather than bad host reasons.

[katers]

Thank you so much, that helps a lot.

I guess then the other problem I have is, I don't know how much of anything I need. I anticipate 200-300 members in the coming year, but for now have nothing I can measure off of. Do you think that Monte Carlo Hosting would be ok, in the bronze plan they offer?

[UH-Matt]

I asked why your comparing them as they seem to be like comparing apples to oranges.

monte gives you 250mb disk and 1500mb bandwidth for $6.95 a month
bluefish gives you 6000mb disk and 100000mb bandwidth for $6.95 a month

Why are you comparing a sensibly priced host with a completely oversold and bargain bucket host?

Usually people compare companies with similar plans and standards.

[markjut]

bluefish looks like it is overselling - probably better to avoid for a forum that is likely to be high on server resources

[katers]

Originally Posted by UH-Matt

Why are you comparing a sensibly priced host with a completely oversold and bargain bucket host?

Because I don't know what I am doing. So I guess the answer is neither of them.

[UH-Matt]

Ok, so lets start from the beginning. Is your budget around the $7 a month mark? for that you should be able to get some reliable forum hosting from a reputable company with a solid reputation. It will be a basic plan but it doesnt sound like you need stupid amounts of bandwidth or transfer... If you can stretch to $10 a month then try here...

http://www.rochenhost.com/multiple-domain-hosting/

[Fulk]

Originally Posted by katers

Hasn't anyone heard of either of these?

I have heard of http://www.montecarlohosting.net/ because of OcBB.

[twhnman]

Your best bet is to test each of these hosts support, demos, phone, live support, etc. Being a smaller host, I'm always critical of the bigger hosts, hosting 100's of thousands of accounts, it'a nearly impossible to give great service, where your smaller hosts offer more helpful, located in the US, personalized service.