POLL: Any desire for a "super-lite" hosting plan?

[MDesigner]

I work for a hosting/web development firm, and we were considering offering a "super-lite" hosting plan, for people who just want a few megs of space, and about 10MB of bandwidth per month. This is ideal for people who want to host a few very basic pages, but don't want to prepay for a year or risk their money on some unreliable web hosting company (BlueSwirl, CyberWings, etc) that's brand new and/or may go out of business within a year. We host database servers for MCI, Net2Phone, etc., so we HAVE to be up.

So.. take the poll!

 

[hamburglar]

5-8 dollars is a LOT for a few megs of disk space. Im paying 4 bucks a month for 200 megs at dixiesys. Also, what features are on the web server? PHp, cgi, etc.

 

[PrincessGuard]

I agree, that is a bit steep for a "super-lite" hosting plan. I don't think people with 10MB of bandwidth really care about uptime that much.

 

[MDesigner]

Taking notes here...

 

[FoBoT]

with our without email?

 

[Freejack2]

For a few megabyte storage and 10mb bandwith a month site it better be pretty dammned cheap. I'm paying $2 a month right now for 200mb/2gig transfer. I just signed up a couple of days ago so don't know yet how reliable the site is going to be, but for $5-$8 a month I can get a super reliable 3digit mb multigig transfer website.
At 10mb a month transfer I'd pay maybe $3 a year.

 

[diskop]

Originally posted by: hamburglar
5-8 dollars is a LOT for a few megs of disk space. Im paying 4 bucks a month for 200 megs at dixiesys. Also, what features are on the web server? PHp, cgi, etc.

That's true, 4 bucks is a lot for the super-lite. I'm paying 4 bucks for 400 megs at dixie(2 for 1 ). Maybe a buck every month or two months sounds fair for a super lite.

 

[LuNoTiCK]

Yea, the price is a bit steep.

 

[Rallispec]

Originally posted by: diskop

Originally posted by: hamburglar
5-8 dollars is a LOT for a few megs of disk space. Im paying 4 bucks a month for 200 megs at dixiesys. Also, what features are on the web server? PHp, cgi, etc.

That's true, 4 bucks is a lot for the super-lite. I'm paying 4 bucks for 400 megs at dixie(2 for 1 ). Maybe a buck every month or two months sounds fair for a super lite.

same here.

 

[notfred]

most people get a few megs of basic webspace from thier ISP, too.

 

[microAmp]

Right now I'm paying $5/month for 250 MB and 10 GB transfer.

But like everyone says, it's a bit steep in price.

 

[dakata24]

gotta love that 2 for 1 july special dixiesys had.. $3.30/month (paid the yearly $39.50) for 400megs storage / 6GB transfers is a great price.

10MB transfers seems rediculously small..

 

[diskop]

10MB just seems like a place for a guy to host their resume or something.

 

Yeah - I'm getting roughly 5GB of bandwidth and about 500 MB of disk space for $9.99 a month. Your plan isn't very competitive.

 

[MDesigner]

Maybe it's not worth it for us to have this kind of plan, then. We can't beat the ultra cheap hosting companies that have a very low cost to run their equipment.

 

[MDesigner]

Another thing that gets me.... I hear things like "yeah, I get 250MB/500MB/1G of space for $10/mo!" But are you REALLY using even half that space?? Seriously. Even with Flash, MPEG movies, whatever... are you going to be using up that space?

 

[dakata24]

Originally posted by: MDesigner
Another thing that gets me.... I hear things like "yeah, I get 250MB/500MB/1G of space for $10/mo!" But are you REALLY using even half that space?? Seriously. Even with Flash, MPEG movies, whatever... are you going to be using up that space?

not at the moment. but it comes in handy if i need to store files somewhere that's accessible thru the net since all those free online storage places arent too plentiful nowadays.. and most only have 10MB or so storage only..

 

[amnesiac]

I'm using Dixiesys for hosting. They're $39.95 a year and I get tons of space, bandwidth, etc. Unless you can beat that, you'll probably be better off not doing it at all.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: MDesigner
Maybe it's not worth it for us to have this kind of plan, then. We can't beat the ultra cheap hosting companies that have a very low cost to run their equipment.

I agree. It's not worth pursuing a "super lite" hosting plan, in order for it to be attractive you'd need to drastically lower the cost to around $1-$2 per month for the storage and bandwidth you're offering.

CyberWings used to be the leader in value hosting but we all know what happened to them.

A long time favorite of DVDTalkers/FW/AT/WebHostingTalkers has been Dixiesys.com / 3-95.com which offers the most bang for your buck and it costs less than $2/month and you get A LOT for your money. So unless you can match or beat what they're offering then I don't think it's worth your time or effort.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: MDesigner
Another thing that gets me.... I hear things like "yeah, I get 250MB/500MB/1G of space for $10/mo!" But are you REALLY using even half that space?? Seriously. Even with Flash, MPEG movies, whatever... are you going to be using up that space?

that is how the "ultra cheap" hosting companies do it, the same as ISP's, they don't actually have XXGB of space set aside for customer X , they use a ratio betting that X% of the people signing up will put up a dorky home page and a couple mp3's and not use anymore space

so in otherwords, they oversell their space just like airlines overbook thier flights

also, they oversell the bandwidth, they pin a big number on the account knowing that 95% of their customers won't get anywhere near that because not so many people will hit "www.iamadorkandnobodywilllookatmystupidwebsite.com" , so again, its marketing, they oversell the bandwidth and space to get more customers. if anybody actually comes close, they email them with "your web site is using to much space/bandwidth, you need to upgrade to our professional account for $49.99 a month" or something like that

you need to get some marketing dudes involved, you are approaching this from a technical standpoint instead of marketing BS perspective

good luck!

 

[vegetation]

$5-8 a month is too much. Even $5-8 a year might be too much for only 10mb of space (how much bandwidth?). Also, I wouldn't go around calling other systems "unreliable" as it may take you years to establish your own company reputation. The fact is, nobody will care that you host database servers for big companies. The hosting business is harsh and very competitive.

 

[chiwawa626]

Yeah if your only looking for 5-10 megs usualy your ISP can give you that with unlimited bandwidth....I dont think its something people are going to go out and spend money for. Mite as well pay what 4 bux for that 200 megs stuff?....5-8 a year is still too much for 10 megs...btw who uses 10 megs anways?

 

[MDesigner]

Originally posted by: vegetation
$5-8 a month is too much. Even $5-8 a year might be too much for only 10mb of space (how much bandwidth?). Also, I wouldn't go around calling other systems "unreliable" as it may take you years to establish your own company reputation. The fact is, nobody will care that you host database servers for big companies. The hosting business is harsh and very competitive.

What, CyberWings & similar hosting companies are reliable? They're not.. period. It's a common hosting scam to start up a hosting company, have a low monthly fee but require a 3/6/12month contract.. then disappear a year later with everyone's money (of course, the fine print states that there are no refunds). I'm not saying CyberWings in particular did that.. but there are others that DO do that. I suppose for a few bucks a month it's no biggie.. but some people may want to host w/ someone who's been around for five years, not a few months. (check the WHOIS records)

 

[vegetation]

I'm under the assumption you do not offer hosting plans to the public, but are in the process of doing so. If that's the case, your company has ZERO reputation in the hosting arena. And what you say is definitely true, but your new hosting service with low rates can be generalized into the same category as these other "scams" until you have proven otherwise (and it takes years to build word of mouth reputation).

Originally posted by: MDesigner

Originally posted by: vegetation
$5-8 a month is too much. Even $5-8 a year might be too much for only 10mb of space (how much bandwidth?). Also, I wouldn't go around calling other systems "unreliable" as it may take you years to establish your own company reputation. The fact is, nobody will care that you host database servers for big companies. The hosting business is harsh and very competitive.

What, CyberWings & similar hosting companies are reliable? They're not.. period. It's a common hosting scam to start up a hosting company, have a low monthly fee but require a 3/6/12month contract.. then disappear a year later with everyone's money (of course, the fine print states that there are no refunds). I'm not saying CyberWings in particular did that.. but there are others that DO do that. I suppose for a few bucks a month it's no biggie.. but some people may want to host w/ someone who's been around for five years, not a few months. (check the WHOIS records)

 

[dawks]

Just for reference, im paying $5/month for 500megs space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited POP3/Web-based E-mail addresses.. so on so fourth.

Your plan would be worth about $.50cents per month compaired to whats available elsewhere.