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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    39

    Are any of these hosts any good?

    I got this list from http://whreviews.com/ under the section: "Honest Hosts":

    DownTownHost
    BlueWho
    Weberz
    AussieHQ
    HostNexus
    HostingMatters
    Pair
    Dathorn
    Idologic
    LunarPages
    Servint
    HTTPme
    HostGator
    UnitedHosting
    FluidHosting
    Clook

    Can anyone tell me their experience of these? What do you think of them, price wise and feature wise, and the various limitations of them?

    I've been looking at HostGator, but that does seem to have that limitation of not going over 25% of your resources or your account will be suspended. Furthermore, it seems you are unable to have a chatroom installed under their TOS.

    Also, Downtown Hosting seems to have a fairly complicated billing procedure.

    Are any of the other ones, or perhaps a web host you have used, without such limitations like HostGator, while having a decent price (under $10 a month - closer to $6 if possible), decent bandwidth and space, and good features? And preferably one which doesn't lock you into a year's contract but allows you to pay on a month-by-month basis?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,355
    What's a decent bandwidth and storage space to you? And what features in particular are you looking for?

    There are many hosts (I would say 99%) of them that offer plans on a monthly basis.
    ServerTag Technologies - Everything you need for hosting activity
    A Canadian company providing top notch site hosting, servers and colocation services

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    39
    Well, the disk space and bandwidth that HostGator offers is 50gb and 200gb respectively. That seems fine to me, although i'm not sure if that's 200gb a month or 200gb in total that you're ever allowed to use.

    I could live with 25gb disk space and even 50 gb a month bandwidth, although I would prefer more if possible to be on the safe side.

    Ideally I would like something like HostGator, but without their limitations.

    Any suggestions? I just want to get on with finding a host and I've been reading lots of reviews but I feel still no closer to finding something suitable as the reviews seem to reveal some hidden problem.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Paradise
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    12,052

    I could live with 25gb disk space and even 50 gb a month bandwidth, although I would prefer more if possible to be on the safe side.
    Are you really sure that you're going to use 25 GB of space?
    Shared Web Hosting - Reseller Hosting - Semi-Dedicated Servers - SolusVM/XEN VPS
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    Cpanel/WHM - Softaculous - R1soft Backup - Litespeed - Cloudlinux -Site Builder- SSH support - Account Migration
    DowntownHost LLC - In Business since 2001- West/Center/East USA - Netherlands - Singapore

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    39
    Quote Originally Posted by Jedito
    Are you really sure that you're going to use 25 GB of space?
    Well not necessarily. Even if it isn't that much, I would still like a host that doesn't have certain limitations imposed on their users.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    1,355
    Your budget is too low for your requirements.
    ServerTag Technologies - Everything you need for hosting activity
    A Canadian company providing top notch site hosting, servers and colocation services

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    39
    Quote Originally Posted by sTag-Dan
    Your budget is too low for your requirements.
    Well what would you suggest is a reasonable budget? HostGator seemed to be good except for that limitation, and it said it was about $6.95 a month.

    Downtown hosting seems to be about $7.95 a month for a year.

    Host Monster (which I'm not sure about) is $4.95 a month - but that does seem quite low.

    What do you think?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    5,849
    Quote Originally Posted by Strongbear
    I could live with 25gb disk space and even 50 gb a month bandwidth, although I would prefer more if possible to be on the safe side.
    Do you already have a web site running? If so, check how much space and bandwidth you're using. If not, what makes you think you'll ever need this much space? Do you plan to host movies?

    In short, try to be realistic about your requirements. In my experience most sites use less than 500Mb space, less than 5Gb per month transfer and would not have any problems with the restrictions Hostgator put on their accounts (which are probably not too different to the restrictions on other hosts anyway, but perhaps more clearly stated).

    If you're just starting out, go with a small account from any reputable supplier (you have a good list there already) and think about upgrading later if you need more space or transfer. And if you want to run a chat script (which can be quite resource-intensive) then talk to your shortlisted hosts directly about which ones they allow you to use.

    HTH
    Chris

    "Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them." - Laurence J. Peter

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    862
    One of the host listed has lied in WHT.
    So, I don't really trust the list.

    And there are other honest hosts, not listed.

    In short, I don't think that list is very helpful in choosing the host.
    I'd rather choose a host by eliminating those I don't want to use:
    - hosts without certain feature I need, such as ability to use binary CGI
    - hosts without RAID disk (or other means of safe storage)
    - too expensive hosts
    - hosts without real adresse, phone, legal business status
    - hosts with bad spam history = aplus.net (serious phone spammer)
    - I try to avoid hosts using slow vulnerable cPanel, as much as possible.
    - hosts without open user forum
    - hosts offering extensive services such as site transfer
    - hosts offering quick support response
    - hosts that sell user list to other companies
    - hosts with too ristrictive TOS/AUP
    - hosts with single server setup
    - hosts insisting "reliablity" without using any redundant setup
    - hosts who bash DreamHost and some other good el cheapo hosts without valid reason/first hand experiences
    - hosts who claim to be "non-overseller" or talk/focus too much on "overselling"
    - hosts ran by liars, too incompetent people, etc...

    Also, when I have some candidates, I ask difficult questions.
    I mean, I pick up the "weakest links" in their services and ask about them.
    Honest/competent host can answer them reasonably, depending on who you got to talk with.
    (A bad sales representative doesn't mean everyone in the host is bad.
    But a good sale person doesn't mean the host can really deliver the goods, either.)

    I often use open user forum for testing them, as it's more difficult to lie.
    If they don't want to answer tough questions in the public forum, well,
    maybe they hav some problems.

    And finally, I choose a host by instinct and several other criteria.
    For example, by their name, by the color of their web, etc.

    I have been using low budget hosts with good result,
    although they supposedly present more risks than higher priced hosts.

    Oh, and I always have a backup host.
    So, I don't have to worry about the primary host going down, too much.
    I can simply flip the DNS (Dynamic DNS), and my site will back up without prolonged downtime.
    Last edited by extras; 12-11-2006 at 10:41 PM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    East Coast // NYC
    Posts
    1,698
    Quote Originally Posted by extras
    - hosts offering quick support response
    I disagree here, some hosts stay in business just because of this one factor!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    Quote Originally Posted by MrRadic
    I disagree here, some hosts stay in business just because of this one factor!
    And happily! :p

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    862
    Quote Originally Posted by MrRadic
    I disagree here, some hosts stay in business just because of this one factor!
    Promising quick support can attract higher concentration of users who NEED and who USE/ABUSE support for ANY (damn) questions they may have.
    I'm sure the support folks of some hosts are answering unrelated questions such as "what should I do with my husband who dones't like my red shoes?"

    This can increase the support cost.
    And imagine what happens in the time of crises.
    Many users jumping on the support lines to obtain quick personalized "comforting".

    site5 used to promise/deliver quick response, but not any more.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    extras,

    In certain situations that would be plausible but I assume most providers have limitations to what is considered support and what isn't.

    Generally most of us save our asses simply by saying 3rd party scripts aren't supported.
    (As they shouldn't be.)

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    862
    Well, I'll simplify for you.

    Who is attracted to "quick support" host?
    It's the users who have intention of using the support.

    Higher ratio of users who use/need support = higher support cost

    Higher support cost = less competetive pricing

    And I don't want to pay for the support I'm not going to use so much.

    It depends on the users.
    Some prefer/need pampering and others not.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    Quote Originally Posted by extras
    Well, I'll simplify for you.

    Who is attracted to "quick support" host?
    It's the users who have intention of using the support.

    Higher ratio of users who use/need support = higher support cost

    Higher support cost = less competetive pricing

    And I don't want to pay for the support I'm not going to use so much.

    It depends on the users.
    Some prefer/need pampering and others not.
    I'll simply it for you a bit further.
    Idiots are attracted to things based on price and price alone.

    Cheap hosting generally means the client has no clue. (None, there's a few random 'price shoppers' who have a brain worth it's weight -- but rare).

    Expensive hosting generally means the client has a clue.

    Done & done.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    In canada
    Posts
    3,374
    Quote Originally Posted by extras
    Who is attracted to "quick support" host?.
    Exactly who cares about quick support, its a "Reliable Response and Support " that matters to most. Plus quick support is most of the time needed when server or services are down on a server ( and hosts should be aware of the same and should not get a ticket from customer " Hey my site is down so is yours " ).

    Cheers
    12+ years -same website , new server [SSD Inside] providing shared/reseller hosting only !
    These things we do not provide/offer : Unlimited Storage ! Unlimited Bandwidth ! But Why? Cause, we were unable to put such a large number on our pages, it just would not fit.
    So check out the numbers that actually fit >> << the page as well as your budget too !

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Paradise
    Posts
    12,052
    Exactly who cares about quick support
    You're very wrong, a lot of people appreciate to have their support requests answered in minutes, even if they are low priority.
    Shared Web Hosting - Reseller Hosting - Semi-Dedicated Servers - SolusVM/XEN VPS
    LiteSpeed Powered - R1Soft Continuous Data Protection - 24/7 Chat/Email/Helpdesk Support
    Cpanel/WHM - Softaculous - R1soft Backup - Litespeed - Cloudlinux -Site Builder- SSH support - Account Migration
    DowntownHost LLC - In Business since 2001- West/Center/East USA - Netherlands - Singapore

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Strongbear
    I got this list from http://whreviews.com/ under the section: "Honest Hosts":

    DownTownHost
    BlueWho
    Weberz
    AussieHQ
    HostNexus
    HostingMatters
    Pair
    Dathorn
    Idologic
    LunarPages
    Servint
    HTTPme
    HostGator
    UnitedHosting
    FluidHosting
    Clook

    Can anyone tell me their experience of these? What do you think of them, price wise and feature wise, and the various limitations of them?

    ...........

    Thanks
    Ive done some of my own research on this 'honest host list' recently and I agree that most of these hosts on the list probably do provide reliable service and support. The ones Im considering for my needs are Pair and HostNexus. Its important to know however that this list has not been updated in quite a while and Im sure there are equally 'honest' hosts that are not on the list. For example FutureQuest is a superb host, but is not on the list for some reason. Lists like this are somewhat subjective anyway.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by David
    I'll simply it for you a bit further.
    Idiots are attracted to things based on price and price alone.

    Cheap hosting generally means the client has no clue. (None, there's a few random 'price shoppers' who have a brain worth it's weight -- but rare).

    Expensive hosting generally means the client has a clue.

    Done & done.
    This is an incredible oversimplification and collectively insults clients' intelligence.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    Quote Originally Posted by tknterry
    This is an incredible oversimplification and collectively insults clients' intelligence.
    Was it a generalization? Yes.
    There's exceptions to everything.

    There are intelligent clients and there are stupid clients.
    Stupid clients tend to not do the research that they should and get burned.

    As far as offense goes: Such is life.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Victoria, Australia
    Posts
    36,941
    Most of the discussion here here isn't helpful. If anyone has feedback on the OP's choices or can recommend one, please respond.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Chennai , India
    Posts
    4,632
    see donot get lists from the third party providers , they mostly cheat people by rating the hosts. in my personal experience i have many sites such encountered.

    Ask reviews from people,

    Hostgator and cyberservers.net are good.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    39
    Quote Originally Posted by anon-e-mouse
    Most of the discussion here here isn't helpful. If anyone has feedback on the OP's choices or can recommend one, please respond.
    I agree. All this in-fighting hasn't really answered my question at all.

    Quote Originally Posted by spechackers
    see donot get lists from the third party providers , they mostly cheat people by rating the hosts. in my personal experience i have many sites such encountered.

    Ask reviews from people,

    Hostgator and cyberservers.net are good.
    Hostgator seem good in what they offer, but as I said in the original post, they have that limit of the 25% resource usage (over which your account would be suspended) and the restriction on having chat applications that aren't remotely hosted. I would prefer a host without that if I can find one.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Victoria, Australia
    Posts
    36,941
    Quote Originally Posted by Strongbear
    Hostgator seem good in what they offer, but as I said in the original post, they have that limit of the 25% resource usage (over which your account would be suspended) and the restriction on having chat applications that aren't remotely hosted. I would prefer a host without that if I can find one.
    It seems they are upfront about that aspect. Have you tried contacting the other hosts to ask about their policy on such matters? Scan their TOS and if there is something that isn't clear, contact them for an explanation

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by anon-e-mouse
    It seems they are upfront about that aspect. Have you tried contacting the other hosts to ask about their policy on such matters? Scan their TOS and if there is something that isn't clear, contact them for an explanation
    This is as good a suggestion as I can give too. Closely read the policies, the plans, the TOS and AUP of a few webhosts that interest you and that meet your requirements. Then email or call the webhosts for questions. Ive been doing that for the past month. Also of course it should be obvious that genuine user reviews of webhosts are helpful to read such as found on this here trusty web site Do a forum search of a webhost you are interested in and read some of the useful reviews. Using this process Ive narrowed down my personal search to Pair and Hostnexus, leaning toward Pair.
    On an unrelated note Id like to say that the moderators here that are actively engaged in moderating the forums make this site as useful as it is. Without the mods, it would quickly sink into a quagmire...so appreciate your moderator today

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