I need a web host

[Ellie]

My current website is absolutely awful. The site, and even the control panel are constantly down. FTP is buggy. I can't pay monthly, only in 14 month chunks. I can't in the future upgrade to better hosting or a VPS, as is required pretty much by my plan for growth. MySQL is handled through requests to their admins rather than through phpmyadmin, as far as backups and imports go. Backups constantly time out for files. Files timeout on upload if they are too big.

On top of that I keep getting hacked through other people's websites hosted on the shared server.

Etc.

Current plan:
£74.50 a year
Servage.net

7.5tb bandwidth per month
750gb hard disk space
SHARED HOSTING
Unlimited MySQL and email accounts
Can add my own domain through setting nameservers to point to servage
PHP



My needs:

Flexibility. I need to be able to pay monthly, and for it to still cost the same or less than the above.

I need to be able to, in the future, upgrade to a VPS.

I need a mysql database and a few email accounts.

I need PHP.

I need security and speed, and the ability to upload safely and quickly via FTP.

I need uptime to be pretty constant, especially for the control panel for if I need to make important changes.

I don't need a detailed control panel, just one that works.


Budget: preferably no more than £5.40 a month. I would like to be able to upgrade to a VPS at around $20 a month (since I've seen a good VPS at that cost elsewhere), although if I can pay monthly this isn't a problem as I can just jump ship in future.

I need to be able to pay monthly. I don't have a job yet and cannot afford an initial lump sum.



I was going to go with dreamhost, but although they give a monthly price, you can't pay monthly. They were the best I found though, and they allow you to:

- start on shared
- upgrade to a VPS
- add a second VPS at a later date
- upgrade to dedicated from that

Which fits in with my growth plan.

The only thing putting me off dreamhost is currently the fact I can't pay monthly.



I am currently hosting 450mb of files though that is multiple websites. I am currently using 30gb a month bandwidth although this may climb.


Thanks for your help ~

Please, don't reply if you are offering a site that gives you referral credits. That's how I ended up on the shit host I'm on now. -.-

 

[Drago del Fato]

I don't know for VPS on this one, but this one is pretty good even for Free Users.

Hope it can suit your needs.
http://byethost.com/paid-hosting

 

[Ellie]

The fact account passwords are limited to 8 characters ( :!: ) has somewhat put me off to be honest...

 

[Venetia]

i've been with micfo for 6+ years. i was hacked once, but it was a foolish mistake on my part (forgot to reset permissions on a folder). other than that, and one small issue i had a few years ago with loading times (after asking about it, my site was promptly moved to another, better server), i've never had a problem with them. i can't even remember ever having any downtime. they also do free yearly upgrades to all their machines, and free migrations, etc.

was considering switching from them to get cheaper hosting, but I called them about it and they upgraded my plan for a super great price (and gave me a free domain for life).


i have full, upgraded cpanel and php/mysql/etc. etc. unlimited email accounts and yes they also offer VPS upgrades and other shit.

i pay on a six-month deal but i prefer it ... you may be able to talk to one of their chat reps and ask what they can do for you there.

http://www.micfo.com/

 

[Brewmeister]

<scratches head> did you check out our beneficent host: http://www.thecomputerguyhosting.com/ ?

Unlike our server here, he offers 'managed' accounts, and it looks like they're pretty reasonable in cost.
I won't get any special favors for the reference, but you might. :scruff:

 

[Glitchfinder]

Amy, I know you're worried about dreamhost because you can't pay monthly, but let me tell you, I have hosting through them, and I love it. I have NEVER had downtime, I have never had any kind of hidden fees or slow access, my site has never been hacked, and they give full access to FTP, MySQL, and a lot of other stuff, including the ability to schedule cron jobs and a slightly limited shell account for your domains. (Obviously, they limit certain functions like sudo that would allow people to do things they shouldn't be able to) On top of that, they have an understanding staff. I gave someone access to some parts of my site for a bit, and they uploaded a server daemon, which is against dreamhost TOS. Instead of locking me out of my account or charging extra or anything, all they did was kill the process and send me an email explaining what they did.

All in all, I really like Dreamhost, and I think that avoiding them simply because they won't let you pay month to month is a bit silly. Then again, I pay two years every time I pay them, so I'm not a good person to ask about that. Also, if you're unsure, keep an eye on their main page. Every few months, they offer a sweet hosting package that includes the first year free, no strings attached. You can bail out at any time in that first year, with nothing to keep you from doing so. The best part about that plan is that it includes unlimited storage, bandwidth, databases, and hosting, along with their standard free 24/7 tech support and I think it was either one or two domains free for the first year.

In case you're wondering, that's how I ended up hosting with them. And no, I won't give you a referral link, especially since I'm not sure if they have them or not.

Edit: I forgot to mention that with dreamhost, you can also give people customized access to all or part of your hosting package, anywhere from limited to dealing with a specific site's FTP to generalized control on par with your own.

 

[Ellie]

Unfortunately I simply cannot afford an upfront payment, even if it was ridiculously cheap and a great host.

I am currently thinking of leaping straight to a VPS - www.linode.com - and seeing about getting my game on sale to fund part of it.

 

[BigScoots]

Hey there Amy, I don't mean to sit here and give you my biased opinion but given I have the ability to provide you some sound advice, I figured I would go ahead and provide it.

I, along side a few fantastic technically trained individuals own and operate http://www.bigscoots.com

On that note, we offer quality managed services on hardware the "big guys" out there try to boast about. We are a new company (13 months old) but have been growing strongly and steadily without fail every month (99.99% uptime since day 1). We are able to provide this quality support and service because as knowledgeable owners we want to see our company succeed, in order to do that it is a very simple process. Provide the knowledge we know and put it into practice with our customers every day, PROMPTLY! You will experience support responses inside 5 minutes at all hours of the day, whether it be 4AM or 4PM.

Our networks are never oversold and we operate our systems on dual quad core 5620's, 15k SAS drives and ports with a ton of space! You will never feel that bogged down, "cheap" feeling you are getting now.

Monthly is not even a question, of course you can pay however you'd like!

From my understanding your looking for 450MB of storage and 30GB of bandwidth allowance on a shared hosting account within your budget. Well we can do you better, how about 10,000MB of storage, 100GB of premium transfer all with unrestricted use of subdomains, e-mail accounts, etc etc for $7.95 on our 100CC hosting plan (which is within your budget).

Given our main focus is VPS sales, we easily have affordable VPS accounts for you to move into as you grow. Further more, dedicated's are at the ready both big and small to grow into if you see yourself eventually getting to that level.

The bottom line is I believe we can provide you with what your looking for, you have listed some great hosts in your "search" and I'm sure they would provide you with what your looking for, however our support and hardware quality generally far exceeds what they can provide and at a reduced cost to boot!

Let me know if there is anything I can help you with (I'll be on our live chat if you have any questions or concerns), we look forward to speaking to you sometime in the near future!

Good luck in your hunt!

 

[Ellie]

Thank you for posting - unfortunately I bought my hosting without seeing your post, I'm sorry for wasting your time!

I have gone straight to a VPS as I couldn't find anywhere that did monthlies, and figured it would be a better way to go regardless. I have gone with linode.com.

 

[BigScoots]

Linode is a great company, just a tad pricey. If your ever in the market for another VPS down the road we hope you check us out

In the mean time have fun with your VPS!