Looking for a new hosting company

[draggar]

Due to my fiasco w/ 171 I've decided to leave them for hosting also. It's not just them not canceling my names like I requested or locking me out of my FTP account for several hours while attempting to back up my sites, but also a more frequent downtime that's come around, 1-2 days a month now.

I'm not looking for anything high end, but what I had with 1&1:
For $5 a month:

120GB space (I currently have about 1GB now, but plan on expanding)
Unlimited sites / folders
100 subdomains (I might have one or two)
Hosting 50 external domains - I don't know how many I'd need with a host outside of my registrar (GoDaddy)
1200GB Monthly transfer usage (I don't even think I hit 1% of this yet but traffic is building)
1200 email accounts (I'm using maybe 50 right now)
25 MySQL databases (100MB each) - I have about 20 that I need but they are all small (but some are growing).

I've been looking at GoDaddy's hosting service which is I think $6 a month for a little elss than what 1&1 offers. (Their site is down now so I can't check exactly what they offer).

Any other suggestions? Security and reliability are important but so is cost. I'd like to stay around the $5 a month for now, though.

 

[Tia Wood]

Please, please, please stay away from GoDaddy's hosting service!!!

I wouldn't concentrate on low cost hosting but quality hosting.

I'm a developer and I have tried tons and tons of hosting companies. The only one I have been 100% happy with is HostGator and EV1 (now ThePlanet.com).

If you value your domains (and this goes for anybody) and development projects, please get it over with and get a quality hosting provider.

 

[Johnn]

Hostgator - excellent customer service - never have to wait for more than 5 minutes - live support.

 

[Tia Wood]

Hostgator - excellent customer service - never have to wait for more than 5 minutes - live support.

Same here! And that's been a big tie breaker for me between them and The Planet.

 

[tonyfloyd]

any feedback on JaguarPC??

 

[Theo]

Ed, for $5 a month all these features are not realistic. They are just numbers that you cannot meet nor exceed. They are there to define the sales pitch. If you were to reach those numbers for $5 a month, the server would come to a crawl.

E.g. 1200 Gb is tremendous traffic, so is 120 Gb of storage - unless you only store movies and mp3s.

More important features are:

1. Drive type (SCSI or RAID instead of SATA)
2. RAM (server with at least 1 Gb if not 2+)
3. Modern CPU (e.g. Xeon / P4 / AMD - no Pentium 2/3 or Celeron)
4. Network card faster than 10 Mbps (e.g. 100 Mbps or even gigabit)
5. Low shared resources (e.g. not having 200 other accounts on the same server)

 

[draggar]

Hostgator seems god but unfortunately I cannot afford the up front costs ($120 for one year, $216 for two years, $288 for 3 years). I seriously went over my budget pulling the domains out of 1&1 and into GoDaddy. the hatchling plan would be of no use to me since it only allows one site, I'd need more, many more.

The Planet seems way too much for me (for what I need).

The speeds with 1&1 haven't been that bad (other than downtime).

GoDaddy's delux plan ($7 a month) seems a good fit for me. My only concern is being "shared" with sites that are banned, but I guess that is possible with any shared hosting comapnies especially one slike GoDaddy and 1&1.

I showed the specs I actually use in the OP. I know I won't need hundreds of gigabytes for storage or thousands of gigabytes of bandwidth but for me, the prime factor is reliability, the databases, unlimited sites (or a high limit), and price.

I'm starting to wonder that if price is that important to me, maybe I should just tough it out with 1&1 hosting. :S

 

[bro]

I would recommend going with hostmonster.com - I paid about $85 for one year couple of days ago. please take a look at their site. good luck

Edit : You would have a free domain too in that price

 

[EG.domains]

Hostgator seems god but unfortunately I cannot afford the up front costs ($120 for one year, $216 for two years, $288 for 3 years).

What about HostGator Reseller Hosting? You can pay monthly.

 

[domainding]

I would recommend going with hostmonster.com - I paid about $85 for one year couple of days ago. please take a look at their site. good luck

Edit : You would have a free domain too in that price


I'd back hostmonster up as well. You'll get a up to 100 MySql databases (handy if you run a lot of script-based sites) and lots of 'unlimited' features.
The main thing though, is customer service. Live support is excellent, never more than a minute or two waiting time by e-mail and even by phone.
For me it's worth way more than an extra 2 bucks a month.

The only other one that's been really good (and I've been through a bunch of them!) was hostgator that's been recommended also in the thread.

 

[Tia Wood]

draggar, sounds like you would benefit from a virtual dedicated server or a reseller plan.

 

[draggar]

I would recommend going with hostmonster.com - I paid about $85 for one year couple of days ago. please take a look at their site. good luck

Edit : You would have a free domain too in that price

they don't look that bad. I know people, I'm going cheap but that is what I can afford right now. When my sites pick up I'm sure I'll upgrade to something better.

How big are the databases?

What about HostGator Reseller Hosting? You can pay monthly.

$25 a month? Um... I don't think I can even come close to affording that right now.

 

[bro]

Mysql Databases - 100
PostgreSQL Databases - 100

I am happy with them, and total control over that free domain :lol:

 

[draggar]

100 databases, but how big are they?

 

[bro]

If it says UNLIMITED Hosting Space then there shouldn't be a limit on the size of DB, have been into web development for quite some time but never really thought about this question :lol: size of DB :?:

Sending pm with links of my sites..

 

[draggar]

OK, thanx. I just noticed everyone else puts a size limit on the databases - usually 100MB (which is now more than what I need but I would be uncomfortable if they were 10MB...).

 

[bro]

I personally know people who are running large scaled websites on hostmonster service, so there shouldn't be any such problem related to DB. quality of service is about same as hostgator IMHO

 

[tonyfloyd]

is JaguarPC a safe choice?...anybody have any feedback for them?

am contemplating the Semi-Dedicated plan that they offer....

 

[Tia Wood]

When my sites pick up I'm sure I'll upgrade to something better.

Here's the thing, though. They need to have the capability to expand. Sell a domain or two and pay a virtual dedicated or reseller up for a few months. I know from experience it's better to have more than enough bandwidth/space/support/uptime than not enough.

 

[Raider]

Agree with Johnn, Meganerd and EG Domains, Hostgator is the way to go.

I have a Reseller Hosting Plan with Hostgator, been with them now for over 3+ years and I couldn't be happier. No upfront fees either.. One thing I really like is the 24/7 Chat support.. Instant problem solving.