Alanat
Posts: 8

Can anyone recommend a good hosting company. I'm so annoyed with the one I have at present, very unreliable.

P.S. I don't want to spend too much.

Thanks.

-A

Mpj
Posts: 76

hi alanat - I use www.online.fr (I can't figure out these YaBB tags to turn that URL into a link) a lot. They're a french company but most of the site has a good english translation.

They offer a load of options, I usually go for the 100Mb one. This comes with several configurable email addresses, unlimited monthly traffic, a bandwidth of 128Kb, PHP4, 1 MySQL database and access to Apache logfiles. If you pay by credit card it works out at around 50 euros per year with domain name.

I've heard of people having problems with their mail box (lost messages) but personaly I've only experienced a couple of problems in 2 years. Also worth knowing that a couple of PHP commands have been modified, notably the mail command.

I'd be interested if anyone knows of a good UK based hosting company.

Vladimir
Posts: 53

I have been using Arishost for 2-3 years (for 2 domains) now and I have been very satisfied.

Special Hosting Features
FREE Web Hosting
24/7 Access to Your Website

Core Hosting Features
30 MB Disk Space
500 MB Monthly Traffic Allowance
SSI
Unlimited FTP Access
Online Site Administration
Perl 5.6.1

Email Features
5 POP Email Accounts
Email Forwarding
Email Aliasing
Catch All Email  

Server
Sun Solaris 8 for Intel

Backup System
Daily Tape Backup

Software
Microsoft FrontPage Extensions
Apache 1.3.19

Advanced Feature
PHP 4

All for $30 US per year. There are inexpensive add-ons for mySQL database, extra storage, extra bandwith, etc.

Great technical support and easy-to-use control panel.

You can even try it out for a few weeks!

For more information:
http://www.arishost.com

Arura
Posts: 5

Hi Alanat,
I can sponsor your website with a free hosting account if you send pm to me with a little info about what kind of website you want to make, link to your current site if you have and how much web hosting resources you need.

Alanat
Posts: 8

Thank you arura for your very kind offer. I should have pointed out that this is a business website, not a personal one and the 'powers that be' will have the final say. I am going to have to show them proof of things like uptime, speed of response to technical support, bandwidth capabilities etc. What I am looking for really are recommendations that I can investigate further and then make a recommendation to the bosses.

Thanks, -A

Brady
Posts: 5

http://www.ehosting.ca/ has some very good deals..depending on what you need..... right now they are offering free domain names (selected extentions only).

Their start-up plan is $5.95 (80Mb, scripting supported, multiple domains, 25 email addresses), and if you're american...beauty part is..their prices are in canadian funds

also http://www.mediatemple.net is a good one...that's the one i use

I guess it really depends on what you want though... but it doesn't hurt to look.

Crumpet
Posts: 11

I use http://host.smartartist.com.au/

I originally chose them because they are an Australian company, and I wanted that because, well, I'm Australian.  I've been really happy with them so far.

Charise
Posts: 4

Netfirms hosts all of my websites ~ I've been using them for years now and have no complaints as of yet.  Wonderful prices..a variety of plans from personal to business with emails, domain registration, e-commerce enabled, etc..

Give it a look-->  Netfirms

Mpj
Posts: 76

Can anyone recommend a good UK based web hosting company? I am looking for one that:

Provides good uptime
Provides muliple email accounts
Is easy to work with
Does not have masses of small print and hundreds of clauses in their terms of business
Will accept direct debit or cheque payment rather than credit card
Is based in the UK (this is a must!!)

Thanks

Joe Gillespie
Posts: 528

Before I got my own server, I used www.inweb.co.uk and they would seem to meet your criteria. Reiiable, good to work with and about average on pricing.

Jdenny
Posts: 65

I'm using oneandone, but I hear a lot of bad press about them, I don't like massive corporates usually, but they did offer cheap solution that seems to be working very well for me.

Anyone else got anything to say about oneandone?

Flaxen
Posts: 28

mpj..with reference to your need for a UK based host, I've always used 123-reg. Good pricing, excellent customer support, good bandwidth, excellent uptime etc.

Check them out, I have no complaints at all.

http://www.123-reg.co.uk

Dzblack
Posts: 33

I realize that setting up a server and running Apache is not for everyone. But it can work well for the serious business who has the resources to run their own server. Keeping everything in-house has many benefits.

I'm not much of a fan of the run-of-the-mill servers on IIS which host multiple sites and are run by $8-an-hour HELP DESK people.

However, I do admit that running an in-house server has liabilities too. Someone needs to maintain that server and if it is full of credit card information, then security can become an issue.

Maybe this is not an ideal recommendation, huh?

Flaxen
Posts: 28

That's the decision I made. We have a Linux server on which we host personal or community based websites, those that contain no sensitive information such as credit card details, personal details etc.

For the other sites, such as e-commerce etc I decided that it would be wiser to use an established hosting company!

Dzblack
Posts: 33

Folks, here's my humble opinion of how to host, where to host and with whom. It boils down to two things...Front End and Back End hosting.

Front End: If your site has no dynamics, i.e., db or ecommerce, then it needs only a plain hosting service. Many sites fall into this category. No scripting, just information to the public. Business Card web sites (that's what I call them).

Back End: If your site needs dynamics, then host it with an ISP that provides excactly what you need for scripting. However, that's where the rubber-meets-the-road and difficult to pin down. For example, does your ISP open up the CGI-BIN? If so, to what extent? Is it for simple forms under their control or yours? Does your site need a professional back-end host that caters to your needs. In many cases, you will find that your front-end site is ok but you outsource all your back-end needs to multiple hosts. It's getting difficult to find a host that can serve all your back-end needs.

Friends, from my perspective, its all about front and back end needs, and no host in service today can meet all of them.

Mpj
Posts: 76

Hi Flaxen and JDenny. Thanks for your help, I've seen ads for both of these companies in a UK internet mag, I'll check them both out.

Out of interest, exactly what are the horror stories relating to oneandone? I've also seen an ISP called Simply.com, do you know if they are OK or should I leave well alone?

Webarts
Posts: 1

I'm using this host for 2 years
they are very reliable and cheap

unlimited asp and php, jsp hosting
unlimited webspace
unlimited bandwidth
unlimited pop3 emails
unlimited coldfusion on windows servers
unlimited mysql and mssql
21 days money back guarantiee

starter price : $1.66/monthly

www.technolojik.net

Kaa
Posts: 10

I use lycos paid hosting because their free hosting was so good.

Been using it for about 2 years now and have had no problems with it. Nice and cheap (aboout £5 a month) and lots of features (php, sql, all that). Not bad for a small personal site.

Their free hosting is great as well, they give you php and sql for nothing! but you do get less space, a bandwidth cap, and a huge google ad bar on your site.

Baffone
Posts: 8

dzblack said:
I realize that setting up a server and running Apache is not for everyone.

I understand that, but how complicated is it? My ISP offers me two solutions for the same price: a dedicated ISP server and a plain dedicated server.
Both will run Apache on Linux in flavour Red Hat, with the usual options turned on (FTP, IMAP, POP, SMTP, DNS Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, C, C++, Jave, Perl, Python, PHP, shell, ...)
In the first instance, I would have root access to the machine and I could communicate via Telnet or VNC, in the second one they would setup a control panel for domains administration and simple adminitrator's tasks.
I'd like the second option (because I could install anti-spam or anti-virus filters which I could not do in a computer I don't administrate), but I wished I could know if administrator's tasks are really complicated. Any suggestion/idea?

Joe Gillespie
Posts: 528

Administering a server IS pretty complicated for me, but what some people consider complicated is not necessarily for others. I find that it comes down to the quality of the documentation and tech support you get.

I find, (that with my ISPs) the tech support always assumes that you know more than you do and give short answers that never really help.

As a 'visual' person, I think in pictures and there rarely are any. The plethora of cryptic command line commands I seldom get right because my typing is bad and I'm dyslexic to a certain degree. Patterns of meaningless characters are impossible for me to remember even for the short time it takes to type half of them.

Now, with all the command line stuff in MacOSX, I have developed a technique where I copy and paste commands into the console and hit return. That way I can navigate the UNIX directory structure - which is a major hurdle for starters. I still have no idea what usr, etc, var, lib and all that stuff mean.

I managed to install PHP, GD and FreeType libraries, but only because Apple give a blow-by-blow tutorial on how to do it and I was able to copy and paste it line for line. If I had to type it, I'd still be trying. Left to the instructions on the 'official' sites, I'd be sunk without trace.

I suppose that what I'm saying is that you might have to pay a little more to get 'quality' support. For an ISP, the cost of putting a few megabytes onto a server pales into insignificance to the cost if answering question in a thorough and timely manner.

Books. There are lots, but again, not enough pictures to explain the concepts. UNIX is not a visual environment unfortunately and that is the major problem for me.

Jim_bradford
Posts: 1

Here are a bunch of cheap hosts compared:

http://www.compare-hosting.com/

Mr_brightside
Posts: 3

webarts said:
I'm using this host for 2 years
they are very reliable and cheap

unlimited asp and php, jsp hosting
unlimited webspace
unlimited bandwidth
unlimited pop3 emails
unlimited coldfusion on windows servers
unlimited mysql and mssql
21 days money back guarantiee

starter price : $1.66/monthly

www.technolojik.net

forgive my uber-newbieness, but i just started resarching hosting services when i found this topic. this is the only service i have seen so far that offers "unlimited webspace", which is appealing if i wanted to say..backup my hard-drive, but my insistent cynicism begs the question: "How can they do this?"

Ratznjammers
Posts: 4

;D The Web Host with the Most ... Get Tons of live online support ... comes with an affiliate program too ... http://wwkiosk.com/members/ratznjammers/

Ed Holm
Posts: 2

I've used Specstream Hosting for years now, they are affordable, reliable and fast.
I highly recommend them.

www.specstream.com

Karen Jones
Posts: 0

Alanat said:
Can anyone recommend a good hosting company. I'm so annoyed with the one I have at present, very unreliable.P.S. I don't want to spend too much. Thanks.-A

Hi there,

I would like to share my experience of web hosting with tenpearls.com hosting my brother's glass ampoules site technoglassampoules.com since last three years. We r very much satisfied by their hosting services and planning to hire their services for one of our another medical site.
You may check it out hope it could help you.

Best of luk
karenjones