Recommendations for premium webhosting needed.

[JMapleton]

I need PREMIUM level quality webhosting with top notch support and built for someone who knows NOTHING about managing a server.

I just want to be able to log onto a control panel, just like you would any el cheapo shared hosting account and manage a website.

Price is no issue, I just need quality and it has to be from a decent sized company, no fly by nights. I need to scale it up when traffic increases.

The hosting company's support team need not wear $200 jeans however, I'm not that picky.

Recommendations?

 

[guyver01]

I'm pretty sure you can google and find a $200/month webhost...
afterall... if you pay $200 for a pair of jeans.... $200/month webhost should be nothing

 

[JM Aggie08]

Paging Vivi...

 

[QueBert]

I'm pretty sure you can google and find a $200/month webhost...
afterall... if you pay $200 for a pair of jeans.... $200/month webhost should be nothing

Yeah because spending $200 every month is the same as $200 one time...

 

[bhanson]

Rackspace is pretty much universally recognized in the industry as the leader for this.

It doesn't come cheap.

 

[JMapleton]

Rackspace is pretty much universally recognized in the industry as the leader for this.

It doesn't come cheap.

Those are the only ones I could find.

But I don't know how they work for someone who knows NOTHING about managing a server. I just want to host a site via ftp (Wordpress), not launch a space shuttle with all kind of crazy controls and features.

 

[GoSharks]

asmallorange.com
Used them for 4 years, excellent support. I ended up moving to cloudweb.com for more storage when they were offering ATers a special deal.

 

[indamixx99]

dreamhost?

i help administer a site via dreamhost and it has built in support for wordpress (automatic installer, easy setup)

 

[JMapleton]

dreamhost?

i help administer a site via dreamhost and it has built in support for wordpress (automatic installer, easy setup)

I really need premium quality. Dreamhost is def value hosting.

I have only found MediaTemple and RackSpace so far.

 

[Malak]

I really need premium quality. Dreamhost is def value hosting.

I have only found MediaTemple and RackSpace so far.

Your blog isn't really worth premium hosting.

 

[GoSharks]

A Small Orange.

Seriously, check them out if you want [affordable] premium hosting. They definitely do not oversell and have a very helpful forum that is staffed by their people.

 

[bhanson]

Those are the only ones I could find.

But I don't know how they work for someone who knows NOTHING about managing a server. I just want to host a site via ftp (Wordpress), not launch a space shuttle with all kind of crazy controls and features.

That's exactly what Rackspace does, they're the guys you go to when you don't want to worry about anything technical and need the very best. They do fully managed services which means you don't have to know anything about running a server. Other companies offer "fully managed" services and it is a fairly generic term, but the experience varies by web host.

They have what's called Fanatical support. You can call in 24/7 and get a live person from your "team" (your servers are assigned to a specific team so they are familiar with your account) instantly.

No offense to the people who suggested Asmallorange, but Rackspace is on a completely different level. Asmallorange has a good reputation and is cheaper but the support is no where close to what you will get at Rackspace.

 

[sdifox]

seriously, for wordpress you don't need anything more than godaddy...

PS no one supports you on your content.

 

[bhanson]

I really need premium quality. Dreamhost is def value hosting.

I have only found MediaTemple and RackSpace so far.

MediaTemple falls between meh and a good value. They offer a good value for cluster-based hosting but have had a history of their technology being not the most reliable. I think they have fixed it recently but once again the support will be second rate.

 

[bhanson]

Actually, you might be a good candidate for Rackspace Cloud Sites. It is a fairly new offering (they bought out Mosso) and is part of their new Cloud division.

You'll get the same great support except the product is targeted at a slightly different different market.

It is a tremendous value at $149/month. You may be responsible to keep Wordpress up to date, though.

 

[JMapleton]

seriously, for wordpress you don't need anything more than godaddy...

I need my site to be up 24/7 and never slow. My traffic in terms of "visitor per dollar" is extremely high. Each visitor is probably 5 cents in terms of revenue.

I'm going to check out Rackspace and Asmallorange.

Maybe I'll do Asmallorange and move to Rackspace later when traffic increases.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

 

[Nik]

http://www.webhostingtalk.com

 

[DaveSimmons]

We've been using ServInt VPS servers for years now at work and uptime has been excellent.

The one thing I'd worry about with WordPress is keeping it up to date, making sure all security fixes are applied. Most managed hosting usually doesn't cover that level of application-specific maintenance.

You might check Google or WebHostingTalk for a company that specializes in Wordpress where updating the application is part of their service.

Another option is to use Wordpres.com and pay for some of their premium features to add more customization than free hosting allows.

 

[JMapleton]

We've been using ServInt VPS servers for years now at work and uptime has been excellent.

The one thing I'd worry about with WordPress is keeping it up to date, making sure all security fixes are applied. Most managed hosting usually doesn't cover that level of application-specific maintenance.

You might check Google or WebHostingTalk for a company that specializes in Wordpress where updating the application is part of their service.

Another option is to use Wordpres.com and pay for some of their premium features to add more customization than free hosting allows.

Thanks for the response, I looked into them and I think I might give them a try. I was with Steadfast for 5 years with a previous website and they've been getting slow lately and they won't fix my site's problem.

 

[Crusty]

I've got 6 VPS through http://www.futurehosting.com and have never been happier with my host.

 

[bhanson]

We've been using ServInt VPS servers for years now at work and uptime has been excellent.

The one thing I'd worry about with WordPress is keeping it up to date, making sure all security fixes are applied. Most managed hosting usually doesn't cover that level of application-specific maintenance.

You might check Google or WebHostingTalk for a company that specializes in Wordpress where updating the application is part of their service.

Another option is to use Wordpres.com and pay for some of their premium features to add more customization than free hosting allows.

ServInt has a very good reputation. I'm not familiar with any recent issues with them (I suspect it is minimal), but in the industry I believe they're regarded as "A budget Rackspace."

I had a VPS with them a few years back and other than it being slow, their support was pretty good. The only reason it was "slow" was because I was getting what I paid for. They posted terrible scores on a VPS benchmarking thread on WHT. This was mostly because the other companies showing good scores were small and most VPSes were on unpopulated servers where since ServInt is well established, less burst was available because servers were filled.

This isn't an issue though if you buy enough server for your needs.

 

[JMapleton]

ServInt has a very good reputation. I'm not familiar with any recent issues with them (I suspect it is minimal), but in the industry I believe they're regarded as "A budget Rackspace."

I had a VPS with them a few years back and other than it being slow, their support was pretty good. The only reason it was "slow" was because I was getting what I paid for. They posted terrible scores on a VPS benchmarking thread on WHT. This was mostly because the other companies showing good scores were small and most VPSes were on unpopulated servers where since ServInt is well established, less burst was available because servers were filled.

This isn't an issue though if you buy enough server for your needs.

What do you mean by "slow"? Slow loading websites?

This is the problem I've been having with Steadfast all year. It takes sometimes over a minute for my website to load. The website will never time out, but it will idle for a minute or two and then load.

 

[bhanson]

What do you mean by "slow"? Slow loading websites?

This is the problem I've been having with Steadfast all year. It takes sometimes over a minute for my website to load. The website will never time out, but it will idle for a minute or two and then load.

I was using their entry level VPS product. VPS work by partitioning a dedicated server into virtual, smaller slices. You're guaranteed your "slice" of the server but when other people are not using theirs typically you can use the excess resources. In my case there was no excess resource to burst which is completely inline with appropriable expectations.

Slow has less to do with support and more to do with having appropriate hardware. In my case I was only paying $50/month (at ServInt) which is of course is not even close to enough money to support a large website.

You'd probably see better performance at Steadfast if you told them to upgrade your server.