Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Windows Hosting : Need Advice Choosing New Host

[upheaval]

I've been reading these forums (and a ton of other sources) and deciding on a new host is so frustrating. Anyway, here's my situation...

Rackwire (which was bought by Flare) had been a good host until they were bought out. The new company has let their servers become outdated and are missing all kinds of components, not to mention that their hosting options are expensive for what they offer compared to nearly every other Window's host out there. I've felt stuck because the idea of moving my SSL and PayPal certificate (for PayPalPro) was more than I wanted to deal with.

Now however, I just don't have enough server space to host high-res images and MP3s (it's a record label site so they're legal MP3s). I was going to use Amazon's S3 service and worked out all the code to make it work running the site on my computer only to find out that host didn't have a recent enough version of a basic component (I think the msxml component was too old). That was the last straw for me.

I have some personal sites that I moved from them years ago to Seekdotnet. That company has been good (I love the control panel and their support usually responds quick) and the front-end uptime seems decent but their database uptime has not been so great. For my personal sites, it's not a big deal but it is a huge deal for my business site. They've assured me it would be ok for my business site, but I'm just not confident enough about them. Their latest customer reviews that I've read haven't been so great either.

Anyway, so what I'm looking for is a good ASP.NET 2.0 host with a very reliable SQL Server (2000 or 2005, I don't care much). I kind of like the idea of VPS since I do some server admin at my day job and am comfortable with setting up SSL, PayPalPro, etc. on my own (I wish I could host this site at work!). Of course, that doesn't guarantee the host's SQL Server will be reliable though. I'm also fine with shared hosting if it's reliable enough.

Traffic-wise, my site is averaging about 9,000 visits (supposedly about 5,600 unique visits) and 51,000 page views a month.

As for price, I'm thinking that between $30-$40 a month would be good, although I could potentially go a little higher for better quality.

Well, sorry for the novel here but I'd appreciate any suggestions for a reliable host that fits my needs. Thanks!

[HostingASPNet]

hi,
When you choose hosting provider it's useful to find and check some websites already hosted on it.

Regards

[AllenB]

Hello upheaval and welcome to WHT!

There are some excellent providers here who can help. I would probably recommend a shared solution first as your requirements do not appear excessive. For a shared solution I would look at jodohost or cartikahosting, though I am unsure if they have VPSs and have not used them personally. For a VPS, I would recommend powervps.

Best wishes and good luck w/ your search!

[jacque]

Its very important to check for the services provided and the uptime of the server.

[HelpDeskSoftware]

Three factors are very important.. there server quality, customer support and service 24/7/365 days and server uptime they mentain.

You really need to check all this and even if you pay few more bucks for this its worth it.

[jkbparis]

Hi Upheaval,

You sound like you're in the same boat as us. Have you find anyone reliable yet? We've been considering for our company hostgator, lunarpages, jaguar but are in Europe and concerned about speed at this end if servers are in the US.

It's a minefield out there and a fairly boring one at that..

Regards,

Jkbparis

[besthostworld]

Originally Posted by HelpDeskSoftware

Three factors are very important.. there server quality, customer support and service 24/7/365 days and server uptime they mentain.

You really need to check all this and even if you pay few more bucks for this its worth it.

Of couse !!

[megacoolman]

i say you should choose a cheap host that way if anything goes wrong u dont waste too much money also dont buy from resellers if the host doesnt sell reseller thier most likey a reseller

[domainoffers]

I'd suggest hostgator.com, after all the downtime (usally 30-60mins/day) i had with different reseller hosts, hostgator seems to run pretty great for the money.. they are also largest reseller of theplanet.com, so the shared accounts are also hosted in one of the best datecentres

[ecenica]

Originally Posted by megacoolman

i say you should choose a cheap host that way if anything goes wrong u dont waste too much money also dont buy from resellers if the host doesnt sell reseller thier most likey a reseller

Good point megacoolman - although its worth noting that some hosts choose not to offer reseller accounts as it gives them more control over who exactly is using their services and quality of service reasons.

[MrCat]

Credibility and reliability! You might also want to check the hosting provider for added features on their plans

[kjawaid]

i have been with serverphase.com from more then 4 years ... they used to be readyhosting.com but they sold the company and as i am very much happy with them .. so i preffered to stay with them .. and i am pretty much happy with them .. only one downtime in 4 years .. which is for a day i think ..

[GreenFrogHosting]

Check with hosts that offer free trial period.. this will allow you to see if they are the right fit for your company

[HostingDeals]

Do you happen to have any specifications for us? Exactly how much disk space and bandwidth you were using?

Speaking from my own experiences, I've had great success with pair.com for their shared services. They aren't spoken of here much because they don't have an affiliate program, but their servers are very stable. I've been hosted with them for 4 years now and I LOVE them.

I'm currently using Pair, HostICan (VPS) and KnownHost (VPS) for over 100 websites. This is after moving off of HostGator, IX Web Hosting, and a few "small guys" that went from great hosting to utter crap within a year.

I share your pain man. Hosting can be very frustrating when you can't afford to go dedicated.

[upheaval]

I wanted to add a quick update...I decided to go with JodoHost based on their reputation and because they have a public support forum where the customers always seem to get very quick responses to the problems they post. They also have a Support Ticket System to handle those problems, but I like seeing the transparency of having the forums as well.

As for the package, I went with one of their higher-end shared hosting accounts. I decided that the traffic my site gets was not enough to warrant dedicated or VPS hosting just yet. I'm hoping to eventually get to that point, but I know I can upgrade the account if I need to.

I don't have my site running full-time yet (it's still being developed) so I can't say for sure how good or bad they might be, but I can say their support has been great so far. They quickly helped me move a copy of my MS SQL database from my old host to their server and they are currently installing my PayPal Pro keys on the server as well. Of course, the real test is going to be the SQL Server uptime. Most of the hosts I used in the past had great uptime for the web front-end server (Seekdotnet included), but had problems maintaining the SQL server with the same kind of uptime.

Anyway, I'll try to post another update once my site is up for a while and I can monitor the SQL uptime.

Thanks for all the help!