Sorry if this is a repeat host, but I'm struggling trying to find a quality host for less then 15$ a month. Something with: 2GB or less of space Decent bandwidth 99% uptime (don't care about the .9999999) Tech support you can actually talk to Nice bonuses like Google adwords coupons, etc. Works with PHPBB, Joomla, and aMember In the end I've found the following hosts: 1&1 hosting = heard good/bad/horrible, but pretty much even across the board midphase.com = looks promising bluehost.com = works so far for one site. hostgator.com = lots of praise, but seems almost overly pumped hostmonster.com = heard on here may not work with amember Just looking for thoughts on these and any suggestions. Thanks!
All of the above are decent options, although I can't comment on their suitability with Amember One thing about ANY hosting solution is you will hear good, bad and ugly about all of them. Some bad reports on hosting companies are justified but most gripes about most hosts are due to customers that expect their hosts to almost build and maintain their sites for them and of course we all know that , that isn't what their role is. We personally use Inmotionhosting.com without any problems with amember, joomla, drupal, phpbb and many other scripts. They have performed well and with great service and support. We use both Virtual Servers and dedicated Servers due to our larger needs,however their personal and business plans are also very good.
Excellent, thanks for that note calisolllc, I've considered them as well, they had mostly good, and you are right, for every issue 10 people complain, but when a company does good, maybe 1 in 100 will say "good job". Have you noticed much down time at all with their service?
Ive been with them for about 9 months with our virtual private servers and have had NO downtime and for around 18 mths with our dedicated servers with also no downtime. Downtime is a variable thats hard to determine over an entire host as 90% of machines will run without interruption for years aside from reboots/upgrades etc where the odd BAD server might be down more often however I would be fairly confident in their 99.9% uptime claim. When we have requested new servers built for increased capacity and cut over to them, etc we have been delivered in as quick a period of time as any host weve used, so I am confident in their tech ability and commitment to service.
I would also suggest investigating MDD Hosting: http://www.mddhosting.com A couple of things that really stand out for me: 1) VERY PERSONAL attention that every customer gets. I really don't think those guys sleep. As a new customer, they will even migrate all of your data, databases, DNS, MX, etc. and update configuration files from your existing host to make sure everything is working like for like. (did I mention this is for free?) 2) They do NOT overload their servers. Unlike a number of hosting providers ( a few of which you have on your list ) they set reasonable limits and do not overload their servers. At the price you quoted you would get 3 gig storage and 30 gig bandwidth. While a number of hosts will give you 2 TB storage and unlimited bandwidth for $3/mo, first question do you need that and second questions how can they do that. You are most likely on a server with 3,000 other customers and are at high risk of being dropped if you see any real traffic. 3) Communication. They have near real time status updates of issues (if ever) and provide details to the level that you need. They have shared, virtual private and dedicated options available.
If your willing to get your hands dirty and can squeeze the extra money I highly encourage at a minimum going the VPS route. I've used LunarPages basic and business plans and as soon as you get any decent volume your account is flagged and suspended and you have to get a VPS account or dedicated server anyway. The next thing you know your scrambling around having to re-install everything from backups. Even if you are a non-pay site offering free memberships and maybe a forum area you could still get flagged if you get any kind of traffic from increasing your membership. I know VPS accounts are more expensive but there prices are coming down. You can host multiple domains on your 1 vps account. So for $5 or less (cost of domain name registering) after registering new domain in a matter of minutes (okay hours after DNS name propagation) you can be hosting a new domain on your VPS account. If you have friends/family you can charge them one time fee $20-$50 for there own personal web page for photo uploads/blogs and practially pay for your VPS account for your heavy volume business usage with their low volume personal usage. Anyway just a thought with VPS you can install whatever you need. All this applies to dedicated also but it is a little more expensive. Like I said if you have plenty of friends/family you can practially subsidize the cost. Jimmy
I ditto the VPS recommendation. Shared hosting is...well...crap. The overselling in the shared hosting biz is truly extreme these days and does not very often offer better service than even free hosting. If one does not insist on cPanel, it's possible to get a decent VPS account well under $10 a month. For the low specs and very low specs VPS accounts, I suggest "Hosting in a Box". Although I have to admit I do not have personal experience with HiB, but I know LXAdmin and I am using the OpenVZ virtualization with HyperVM from the same company and it's great! If anyone wants a VPS, just read some special offers at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=104 , there is always something for every budget. Tomas
Do report back and let us know what you ended up with and what the experience is like with your new host.
Well thought I'd try 1 and 1, very attractive packages, etc. Activated my account: 8:02 am Cancelled my account: 8:24 am I'm not going into details, but needless to say by the time I was done I just wanted to start yelling at someone. The statement " You get what you pay for " is so true with those guys.
Sabbok, If you are still in the market, give MDD Hosting a shot. Talk to Michael, the guy that runs the place, he will take care of you. skippybosco
sabbok, If you're still in the market shoot me an email. I'm currently hosting several amember installs. Some of which I've done some programming on. I have a dedicated server with some extra resources on it that's very much suited to an easy amember install. jeff(at)siteomatic(dot)net
Thanks, it's in serious need of update. You know - I'm always busy working on everybody else's sites...
Hosting and Marketing Support My company provides hosting and marketing support to small business and we've been long time users of amember/joomla/community builder. -just look for some of my posts - If you'd like more information visit http://www.mysmallbizwebhosting.com Any of the hosting accounts include access to our Internet Marketing Video Library at http://www.mysmallbizu.com. There's over 1000 video small business marketing tutorials inside.