Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Need cheap, very reliable hosting - features less necessary!

[ramparts]

Hi all - I've got a website (<<snipped>>) which I've been hosting on InMotion for a year. It's about time to pay for the next 12 months and I realized I'm on their business plan at about $7.95 per month, and am really overpaying given what I need. On the one hand, I've been very happy with them, but I don't need much and can save a lot of change by switching to, e.g., BlueHost or JustHost, etc.

What I really need is:
-Very reliable, fast servers (I transfer large MP3 files to the site weekly, and they get downloaded pretty often, too)
-Lots of bandwidth
-Cheap

What I don't need are all the extra features I see a lot of people talking about - tons of e-mail/FTP accounts, MySQL databases, website builders, etc. Hell, I haven't even dealt with customer support for the site.

It's a very, very simple site, just some pages and MP3 files. What would people recommend for solid, reliable hosting for this?

[Orien]

How large are these MP3 files and how many downloads every month do you estimate?

[ramparts]

The MP3s are on average, say, 60 MB. My guess is on the order of dozens of downloads a month, but it's hard to tell (I haven't got the best stats counter). I'd feel more comfortable with unlimited bandwidth but if there's a service that's way better with just, say, a few GB a month, I'll live

Apologies to the mod for the link in my OP! I just thought it would be helpful.

[CubicH-Gray]

Do you have preference on Shared/VPS?

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by ramparts

The MP3s are on average, say, 60 MB. My guess is on the order of dozens of downloads a month, but it's hard to tell (I haven't got the best stats counter). I'd feel more comfortable with unlimited bandwidth but if there's a service that's way better with just, say, a few GB a month, I'll live

Apologies to the mod for the link in my OP! I just thought it would be helpful.

The thing you need to keep in mind that although they say "unlimited" there is a real limit that you will eventually cross - but you won't know until you are suspended or you get a nastygram because the limit is invisible to the end user in an "unlimited" plan.

Beyond that - if you are very happy with your current host I would advise you stay where you are... More often than not you will move to another provider to save money and end up with lower quality service making you wish you had stayed where you were.

Ultimately the decision is up to you

[Jedito]

feel more comfortable with unlimited bandwidth but if there's a service that's way better with just, say, a few GB a month, I'll live

You shouldn't. There's not such thing as unlimited bandwidth, all the host have limits but they just hide you to you to deceive you to signup with them. Indeed is a shady marketing strategy and I would suggest you to avoid any host doing it. If so far you were lucky enough to have a reliable hosting from an unlimited host, then why don't you stay with them? try to downgrade to another plan like the personal starter.

[ramparts]

Originally Posted by gray929

Do you have preference on Shared/VPS?

I have none

Thanks for the tips on "unlimited" bandwidth claims.

If anyone can recommend a good service I'd still appreciate it - I agree I'd feel comfortable keeping it, but I see no reason to pay $100 a month when I don't use the majority of InMotion's business features. I'm not sure about the InMotion personal plans, especially because they require 24 month pre-pay (ideally I'd prepay for 12 months).

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by ramparts

I have none

Thanks for the tips on "unlimited" bandwidth claims.

If anyone can recommend a good service I'd still appreciate it - I agree I'd feel comfortable keeping it, but I see no reason to pay $100 a month when I don't use the majority of InMotion's business features. I'm not sure about the InMotion personal plans, especially because they require 24 month pre-pay (ideally I'd prepay for 12 months).

Realistically HostGator is a fantastic provider and they were always good to me while I was using their services.

Although they do offer "unlimited" disk/transfer they are a very good provider as long as you don't expect to use 1tb storage/5tb transfer etc...

From reading some of what Brent said a while back he didn't want to go unlimited but in order to keep from losing a good portion of their market share they had no choice from a marketing standpoint.

[SiberForum]

I suppose you need to try at least to calculate your needs. Approximately.
But for the present moment knowing your current file sizes I'm certain you need to start with VPS

[ramparts]

SiberForum - I looked up the differences but couldn't figure out how it applies to what I've got. Could you please elaborate?

[VIPoint]

You can go for a shared hosting with a few GB of Space and lot of bandwidth. There are tons of hosting sites that provide you with these features. Make sure you let them know about the mp3 downloading if you are in shared hosting

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by SiberForum

I suppose you need to try at least to calculate your needs. Approximately.
But for the present moment knowing your current file sizes I'm certain you need to start with VPS

I don't understand the recent push here on WHT to tell everybody they need a VPS. There are shared hosting plans out there that will meet the OPs needs although they won't be in the traditional "cheap" price range most people request here and most providers offer; a VPS is certainly not in this "cheap" price range either.

As you begin to look at the $12~25/month shared hosting plans you will find that they allow more resources, more storage, more transfer, along with the fully managed environment of a shared hosting server, usually with less clients than a standard $3~7/month server.

The only time I really advise somebody to go VPS is when they need something custom that most providers won't either have already available or won't install for the end user or if they are trying something that blatantly violates the Terms of Service of most shared hosting providers.

I don't see any reason the OP should move directly to a VPS imho - for the same price or less the OP can get what they need from a quality shared hosting provider without the additional headache of having to manage a server (as management on most virtual private servers costs extra).

Good luck!

[rumsfo]

Originally Posted by ramparts

SiberForum - I looked up the differences but couldn't figure out how it applies to what I've got. Could you please elaborate?

And you can't work with your current web hosting service provider, can you?

[sharmaine1111]

MikeDVB,

Well as you can see, according to the OP himself, he transfer LARGE mp3 files weekly and gets downloaded OFTEN too. In the near future, he'll be having some trouble with a shared hosting environment if the hits grow exponentially

[ninak]

You may possibly try to contact some of the hosts listed here (through their websites) and see if they can work out something just for you.