how do I pick a webhost?

[flavio]

I started working on a working a website for a small business recently and yesterday the webhost decommisioned the server it was on without really any notice. An email was sent two weeks ago about "if you would like to migrate to our new business plan do the following". It said nothing about if you don't we'll take you down and delete all your files.

After about 15 different angry calls to the host I finally got them to get me a backup of the site ( and yes I have suggested that we do our own backups for now on). The business owner is understandably angry and told me to find him a new host.

I haven't done this before so I'm not really sure where to begin. There's a lot of choices out there.

 

[gwlam12]

www.2mhost.com

or

www.challengehost.com

 

[flavio]

Geezus! Both of those are under $2/month!

I think he said he pays $30/month now for this crap he has now. You've used these before?

 

[Lars]

webhostingtalk.com is worth a visit if you are looking for a web host

 

[bmacd]

check their uptime and what software the server supports (i.e. coldfusion, ASP, .NET....). Try sending them a couple of emails to check how long it takes before a letter is answered. That should be the basis of your search.

-=bmacd=-

 

[teqwiz]

www.he.net. $10 month. great service.

 

[amdskip]

dixiesys

 

[amnesiac]

I second dixiesys.
I have 4 domains hosted through them and I have nothing but good things to say about their service and support.
Great prices too.

 

[RossMAN]

flavio - You're running a business website, so uptime, reliability and excellent tech support would be good, right?

How much website space (MB or GB), bandwidth per month and e-mail addresses does your current webhost provide?

What is your monthly budget?

 

[flavio]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
flavio - You're running a business website, so uptime, reliability and excellent tech support would be good, right?

How much website space (MB or GB), bandwidth per month and e-mail addresses does your current webhost provide?

What is your monthly budget?

This is the current webhosting plan

It is a very new small business right now. Uptime, reliability, and excellent tech support are very important though.

100MB of space would last quite awhile even 50MB would suffice for now. 10 email addresses would be plenty for now until the business grows.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: flavio

Originally posted by: RossMAN
flavio - You're running a business website, so uptime, reliability and excellent tech support would be good, right?

How much website space (MB or GB), bandwidth per month and e-mail addresses does your current webhost provide?

What is your monthly budget?

This is the current webhosting plan

It is a very new small business right now. Uptime, reliability, and excellent tech support are very important though.

100MB of space would last quite awhile even 50MB would suffice for now. 10 email addresses would be plenty for now until the business grows.

eww, windows server...

 

[bGIveNs33]

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0
I second dixiesys.
I have 4 domains hosted through them and I have nothing but good things to say about their service and support.
Great prices too.

Prices aren't so great anymore.

 

[RossMAN]

You're paying $30/mo for that? Damn you're WAY OVERPAYING and should definitely switch to a better webhost.

Heck I could even host you for $20/mo but I only do Unix not Windows. I have about 1GB/10GB which is just sitting there.

As suggested before I would visit the WebHostingTalk.com forums first browse their Shared Webhosting Special Offers if you don't find what you're looking for, register for the forums and post in the Web Hosting Requests forum .. within hours you'll have at least a dozen offers which will be BETTER than your current plan, way better!

I have found that the two top webhosting providers (but they only do Unix and these are reseller plans) are Voxtreme.com and HTTPme.COM, I personally have a resellers account with the latter and it's been nothing but first class, highly highly recommended.

 

[jjones]

I use Global Space Solutions for a few of my business accounts. They're a small company located in Texas and have great uptime, probably about 99.9%, as my sites are never down and I've never received a notice from any clients about it. They are reliable and have a very good, friendly customer service. I've been using them for about 5 years now and any important site I use their servers.

I also have a couple of Dixiesys reseller accounts that I use to launch new sites to gauge performance but then I move them over to Global Space for reliability if I plan to fly them permanently.

 

[flavio]

Ok so I think I've got it narrowed down to:

challengehost.com for $1.95/month
www.8-95.com for $8.95/month
HTTPme.com for $25/month

I think I'll show all three to the owner, but I know he's probably going to tell me to pick one.

 

[Anubis]

eni meni meini mo