Sugestions on how to find a good hosting company?

July 19th, 2008, 1:37 am

Hi guys! I am just a beginner! Could you tell some steps to find out a good hosting company?

July 22nd, 2008, 9:21 am

1. Make checklist of what you need from hosting (amount of disk space, databases, traffic, and so on). Say, your hosting requirements
2. Choose the type of hosting that suits your hosting requirements: shared, vps, dedicated, cluster.
3. Search for the offer.
4. Give a try.

Do not sign annual contracts, do not let hosting company to register domain for you - use third-party registars.

[spork]

July 22nd, 2008, 9:29 am

hosting-forum/read-this-first-before-asking-for-hosting-recommendations-t34784.html

July 24th, 2008, 5:35 am

As you are on start with web hosting I think that shared account is more then enough for you. But be careful - there are lots of scam. And do not go for the cheapest web hosting company.
For good shared web hosting I can recommend: MMhosting.com (they do put $$ in their servers and you for sure will have good conditions on the web hosting), Serverpoint.com (do invest a lot in the web hosting for ex they use paid Zeus instead of free apache), lunarpages.com (offers cheap and stable solution)
But before going with any of the companies make sure how much you need.

July 24th, 2008, 10:43 am

Pick up the phone and call them, keep calling them and asking tech questions. See how long they take to respond. Call on Sunday 3 am and see if your tech or a message answering service that only opens up tickets. I can recommend Server Intellect if your going to need windows hosting. You can also read some reviews at webhosttalk.com

[artcoder]

July 24th, 2008, 12:39 pm

Bandwidth and disk space spec are not so important if you are just starting out. Because almost all host will have more than enough disk and bandwidth than you would likely need.

I always pick ones that has 24x7 phone support, not those that only have email or ticket support.

If you plan on having more than one website, consider hosts that support unlimited domains.

If you plan on using PHP/MySQL applications such a Wordpress, ZenCart, Drupal, Joomla, etc, make sure they support PHP and MySQL (most do).

[Bogey]

July 24th, 2008, 1:01 pm

I got mine recommended to me by a person here on ozzu who I trust and know that he doesn't work there... (At least I think so ) anyway... I had no troubles whatsoever with the host.

Mostly good hosts come with time and experience (I think... I don't have experience yet )

I agree with Iliya on this... don't sign annual contracts. I pay monthly (If that's what he means). This way, I don't have to sit through a year of horrible service just because I already payed for it ... if it ever reaches that case).

I'm into my second month of service and I haven't used my service yet... lol payed and went into it a bit early but I got my domain

[spork]

July 24th, 2008, 1:31 pm

I trust my hosting provider enough to pay yearly rather than monthly. I save a good deal of money by doing so.

[ATNO/TW]

July 24th, 2008, 1:37 pm

spork wrote:

I trust my hosting provider enough to pay yearly rather than monthly. I save a good deal of money by doing so.

ditto that.

[Bogey]

July 24th, 2008, 1:42 pm

For me, 15 dollars a month isn't such a big deal. Comes to 180 dollars a year. I will go through one year with my host and if nothing happens I might pay yearly (That is, if I can change the payment options and if I really feel like it).

I get like 500 dollars a month, but this is the only thing I'm paying for (I'm still a high school student leaving with my parents) so, so far so good

[spork]

July 24th, 2008, 1:52 pm

Oh, wow. I pay $4/month. You must have one hell of a plan, lol

July 24th, 2008, 4:51 pm

My web hosting provider has a $1/month plan. And their support is great. I normally use their 24/7 online chat, and get fixes within minutes

[Bogey]

July 24th, 2008, 9:24 pm

spork wrote:

Oh, wow. I pay $4/month. You must have one hell of a plan, lol

Nah, web-faction's 10GB Disk space and 600GD Bandwidth Transfer.

I signed up because the price seemed a bit more reasonably realistic and "trustworthy"... I guess I went over my head to try to get a trustworthy hosting service.

But it works for me

July 29th, 2008, 1:30 am

First of all, you should determine how much disk space and bandwidth you require. Well, if you just a beginner, you need shared hosting plan. After that you may do some search of hosting companies and recognize their prices. Then ask on the forums about support service of the company you have chosen. I can recommend you to look at hqhost.net and hostmonster.com, as they seem to provide their clients with affordable hosting.

August 6th, 2008, 6:22 pm

3iX only $1 a month, online chat 24/7 support.