Can't Decide...Guidance please?

Finaly going to make my first step into this little business.

Now picking a host is pretty difficult. I need a host that can easily host a couple domains. Supports PHP, mysql, .htaccess., fast, reliable (uptime etc.), easily upgradeable, awesome extra features. (free domains and stuff.)

And of course the basic good bandwitch and diskspace. Am I asking a lot here? . I just want to go for $9.95 a month.

After Surfing the forum for awhile now I see these get mentioned a lot.
http://asmallorange.com/services/hosting/index.php
http://www.netfirms.com/web-hosting-advantage
1and1.com
http://www.dreamhost.com/shared/comparison.html

Any of these meet my demands the best?

Also what's a good domain register. Just want something cheap and has private registration.

Also anything that accepts Paypal is a plus.

Hope I'm not asking for too much here. Thanks.

 

I have an account with ASmallOrange. Support is great. They respond very quickly. Currently I am testing Pair.com after it was recommended by some people I respect highly. So far I am very satisfied!

 

Do the following:

Find a few sites hosted on those places, go to whois.sc and do a search for those sites click on the x for the info and you'll find how many sites are hosted on a server. Hosting companies have a lot of servers so try as many different hosted sites as you can. If you don't find that information the hosting company could have paid to remove it which is "not a good sign". I think you'll be surprised to find that many companies host a lot of sites on their servers.

I recently had a trouble with a company having 800+ sites on the server my site was hosted. Now I'm hosted with a Los Angeles company who hosts only 150 sites per server, costs $24.95 per month for 12 sites 2GB disk space and 60GB data transfer. I have to say that my site is flying compared to my previous host.

In general I also prefer hosting companies with public forums.

 

Yea I think I'm really leaning towards asmallorange. I just need a domain register service that accepts paypal, and comes w/ private registration. Cheap.

 

For your domain inguiry, I'm using dynadot.com. They accept paypal and offer private registrations, although your name still appears on the whois record.

I think it'll be a good idea to ask directly asmallorange how many sites max they allow on their servers, just for your records, and to test how well their support team responds.

 

Need more ideas for domain registrar.

 

http://www.lunarpages.com/

$7.95/month (if paid annualy): Shuttle Plan

FREE Domain Name For Life
Up To 3000 Megabytes Storage
100 GB/Month Data Transfer
1 Add-On Domain
Unlimited MySQL Databases

And to register domains use Geek Domains
or Godaddy

 

I can sympathize with this happening. To many hosts are trying to squeeze to many sites into one server. The maximum you can put theoretically on a pentium 4 2.8ghz 1gb ram and 100mbps port is 500 to 600. This is however not a good idea. Keeping it around 200 max is the best bet for any host. This maintains the speed of the server and quality of the websites. We maintain ours at 200 max as well. The thing that many hosts forget is that each account is going to use other resources due to control panels and databases. These will chew up a servers resources quickly. My rule of thumb is that if the servers resources reach 50% usage than it is time to open another server. 200 accounts is the max number with 50% resources being the cap even 200 accounts is never reached.

What you are looking for in a host is very obtainable. There are many good hosts out there for you to choose from and some really bad ones as well. Speed testing servers is the best way to choose a host. Also the biggest is not always the best choice. Look at the features they offer and what your needs are. If you require cPanel/fantastico then limit your search to those hosts providing this. Remember that you may want large amounts of space and badwidth, but how much do you need for the next year of your business to operate effectively. You may pay for 80GB of transfer, but only being using 20GB so you are effectively overpaying. A good safe margin is to be at least 25% above what you need. If the host is offering a good deal on the badwidth as well, then this is a bonus. Good Luck.

Oh yes we use DynaDot and NameCheap. Dynadot is our preferred as they have the best customer service on the market for domain registration. They also have a user friendly Control Panel. We have tried all the largest ones and they are the one we have most of our sites with. I believe that I am at 40 domains with them now. I have 9 with NameCheap, but with the renewal I will place them at DynaDot when all is said and done.

Kevin

 

my host is less than $5 per month.
http://www.1stsingaporewebhosting.com/resources/index.shtml

 

Choosing a host is not that difficult

If it's your first online presence get one supporting PHP, MySQL, Frontpage, CGI and offering stats (webalizer, awstats, Urchin) and full daily backup including database and email.
Choose a system you're used to: Linux / Windows both have neat advantages and some heaviness, no one is perfect
Stuff you can overlook is emails box volume, having a capacity of 1,000 addresses may not be your main issue.
Go with a month by month contract so when you need more features such as SSH access, you can look for something more powerful and more expensive.

Unlimited bandwidth is very often a 'scam' as real bandwidth is the most expensive part of hosting. Also having 1,000Gb of traffic doesn't mean anything, one important part is the connection from the server to the Internet. One of my previous host - I'm sure - had a dial-up.

Avoid resellers of resellers, even if there promises are huge and the pictures of their data-center are nice, they often offer poor service and you loose everything as soon as they don't pay the bill. My advice, go with a big guy (GoDaddy, 1and1, Aplus...) these are now quite competitive and offer great starting plans.

Registering? there are 2 solutions: with your host or a 3rd party. I prefer the 3rd party so I can switch hosting companies without DNS modification issues. You should not pay more than $8 per site and definitively avoid the free or so cheap ones that the domain doesn't belong to you.

My experience?
My first website was registered with Network Solutions for a mere $70 a year and for 5 years minimum. Today I pay $5.99 yearly per site.
My first host charged $50 per month, a mere $399 setup fee and a 2 years contract for 50Mb of disk and 100Mb bandwidth - no cpanel at all.
My worse host: a $5.99 monthly cost, no setup fee, everything unlimited! got it on eBay. Well I paid once only as I was not even able to FTP long enough to upload my files.

Today I have 2 Linux root servers with 1and1 with 40G of ftp backup and a monthly bill of $228.

 

try ixwebhosting.com