What should I look for in a web host?

**Cartman** · 12-30-2005 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by nado

I'm currently with www.dreamhost.com ... can host unlimited domains, 5GB space, 250GB bandwidth and they've been around since 1996. So far they've been good, a little slow but we're only using it as a temporary solution until we get enough traffic on our websites to get a dedicate server or two.

Hehehe, that's the host I was referring to above for my recreational sites.. I missed out on the 777 deal, but still got some crazy deal where it came to under $20 for the year, and included a domain name. I've been real happy with them so far, and at the end of the year I'll find someone else cheap, since their renewal rates are where they get you at!

That said, I only pay $8.95/mo with eMax, and that gives me everything I want.. Don't know how they make any $$ doing that, but I'm not complaining.

**nado** · 12-30-2005 05:57 PM

How expensive are the renewal rates?

We're hoping to be looking for a dedicated server or two before the year of hosting with them runs out, so overall it's pretty sweet to have a test and start bed for our web projects.

**greenplanet** · 01-02-2006 09:18 PM

Since I own a hosting company, I can tell you that you get what you pay for. There's no way anyone can offer prices as low as some of you are describing without some sort of tradeoff.

For example, if a host has 1000 MB to sell, they might 'oversell' it with 100 MB to 40 users (for a total of 4000 MB) with the hope that most people hardly use 5 MB let alone the 100 they get. Everyone is trying to build market share so they're trying to give it away with the hopes of upgrades. Now, everyone oversells to a degree. It's industry standard. Just like the airlines. And hotels. And restaurants. But someone who is giving away so much for so little is overselling to the point where they will certainly wind up with lag issues. Also, read the fine print. There's a CPU usage clause in most contracts that would usurp any space or bandwidth considerations they've given you. So if you're getting "unlimited" bandwidth, there still are limitations.

Most start up websites can be fine with as little as 50 MB storage and 1000 MB of bandwidth and even that might be overkill in some cases.

Anyway, my hosting service, greenplanethosting.com sends 50% of our profits to charity. I figure that all things being equal, it might be nice to associate with a host that cares.

See you on the Internet.

**joviyach** · 01-03-2006 09:21 AM

First of all, I never said that no one ever has a problem with the host I use. I have no idea if they do or not, but I have yet to have any down time, or a single problem. I was only trying to help. I can only speak from my own experience.

Second, since you own a hosting company and are trying to sell the same service to everyone, of course your opinion is going to be biased anyway.

You don't always get what you pay for anyway. Lot's of people pay some poser $400+ for a website, and then see the same template being used at their competitor's site a couple of days later. Others pay someone else less and end up with a unique site.