Hosting Recommendations...

[FleaPit]

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I'm getting real fed up with my current hosts saying I can't do this and can't do that... Anybody know a good reliable unix provider either dedicated or multiple domain hosting which offers good flexibility for scripting, handlers, and other useful things as well as being fast, reliable and good value for money?

Hmmm, maybe I'm asking too much but I have yet to find a host that offers all this without comprimise. Thanks in advance

[getvisible]

speak to Natural Instinct he's got a good solution.

[1st Stop]

I may be barking up the wrong tree but you could try landblue.co.uk they provide excellent hosting!

Damn wheres that affiliate link!

[otolith]

I'd recommend www.tera-byte.com, they're fast and reliable with good support. They're the parent company of www.spaceports.com and www.cjb.net

This ad popped up last week http://ads.mircx.com/html/tera-byte.html, seems like a good deal, but may not be valid at this stage

[Kandevil]

I'm looking at using oneandone.co.uk and they're offering a free £50 Adwords voucher too

Anyone use or have used them with any experience? I'm using HostEurope on one dedicated server at the moment, that I manage myself, which I'm very happy with, but its one server for all my sites, I'm now looking at seperate server for one new project.

A managed server for £29 a month seems like very good value.

Suggestions and questions in one post, bonus

[stevo]

After years with assorted ISPs, I've not got a dedicated server (Linux / Plesk) with CWCS (only found them cos they hosted one of my customers web sites) - they aren't cheapest (£99 pm 20Gb HDD / 15Gb Traffic) but the support and server performance are both great.

Not sure about costs for massive amounts of traffic, but they're fine for my measly trickles!!!!

Steveo

[Andyc]

Kandevil

I use oneandone.co.uk and I've never had much server downtime with them. However whenever I use technical support I have found them to be rude sometimes.

Andrew

[wibble99]

This is a good site for info on web hosting:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com

E.g. I just did a search for 'oneandone' and there are 97 thread results. So it can be good, quick way for finding out what people think about hosts.

US hosts seem quite cheap for bandwidth compared to the UK, so may be worth considering if you want to use a lot.

[Consultant]

After having 14 of my sites hosted on a failing dedicated server:

I can recommend one NOT to use: Fasthosts, their servers are in pieces, their support is pure flannel, (they do have unlimited bandwidth though) and their sales talk is fantastic!

US hosts may be cheap, but with googles geolocation filters, if you're running a UK site, the chances of being listed for UK searches are minimised.(IMO)

If you are serious, make sure that you have a dedicated server, as a virtual server is subject to the bad coding of any of the other sites hosted on it. It costs more, but what price stability?

Depending on where you are in the Uk, I can put you in touch with a very personal service (install what you like on the server, have it set exactly as you want it, etc.) and 1 hour notice for actual access to the machine. (pcanywhere symmetricly encrypted can be installed too, so you have full access to the machine from anywhere in the world) It doesn't get any better than that. (apart from sticking the server in the corner of yr office)

The costs are comparable to most dedicated server routes, but you have to live in, or near Cardiff to get the best out of this deal. (no, I'm not on commission) PM me for details if you want.

Yours Helpfully

Sultan

[Kandevil]

>> US hosts may be cheap, but with googles geolocation filters, if you're running a UK site, the chances of being listed for UK searches are minimised.(IMO)

True for any tld other than .co.uk, you'll be fine if your using a .co.uk domain

[Kandevil]

Thanks for a great link wibble99, I think I'll be avoiding oneandone for now. Will have more of a read on there in my quest for a new host.

[wibble99]

Yes, my understanding is that hosting in the US is fine as far as search engines are concerned, so long as your domain ends in .co.uk. If you have a .com that is for a UK audience then you'll be in trouble as it won't get returned in the UK results, though.

I mentioned in another thread that I was considering a host called http://www.httpme.com as they seem to have a decent reputation on that forum.

For $35/month you get 2gig disk and 20gig bandwidth, but the thing that really made me interested was that you could host as many domains on your account as you want. You can then easily upgrade that to 6gig disk and 60gig bandwidth for $75/month.

I've still not got round to getting an account with them yet (though should next week) so can't personally recommend them, but I like the way they contribute a lot to the forum I mentioned previously and they also have a comprehensive forum on their site where they seem good at answering questions.

[FleaPit]

Thanks guys I new you would come up trumps! I have a lot to think about as I have just found out my current host won't give a refund as I pay yearly (10% discount... like that was worht it!) The US hosts do look remarkably cheap but I am not so much worried about cost as I am flexibility and performance. I solved one of my scripting problems by setting up a server on my own pc and running it though MySQL which works like a charm (10 hrs of ripping my nads off to get it to work though!). I've got to get it right this time as I am sick of changing hosts and temporary solutions are just that... Anyways, thanks again to all

[wibble99]

Actually, talking about cheap bandwidth in the US - if you go to http://www.rackshack.net they offer dedicated servers starting from $89/month with 700Gig bandwidth per month!

I'd not consider them myself, though, as they're not managed and I don't know enough about servers to want to try. I'd rather pay somebody else to do it while I work on what I know.

But if you think managing a server is a doddle, they're pretty cheap and seem to have a decent reputation.

[NaturalInstinct]

Originally posted by getvisible
speak to Natural Instinct he's got a good solution.

Thanks for the recommendation Lee, unfortunately we only offer windows hosting because we use .net on our own sites and I have a windows background and find them easier to use and fix.

Having used linux servers in the past though I can recommend positive internet, they may not be the cheapest but they do offer a great service. If you're serious about your business I would always recommend paying that little bit more. Also, I recommend you try calling their technical support line a few times before signing up, just make up some reason to call them with a technical question you need to know an answer to before you sign up.