OK, I'm in need of some hosting. Again.

  • Thread starter Jondot
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Jondot

Jondot

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GTP_Jondot
I decided a month or so ago that instead of simply sitting around watching re-runs of Jeremy Kyle, I'd get back into the whole web designy-ness industry/scene type thing. I figure I'm going to be doing it in September, and I need to remind myself of the basics before they get lodged in the irretrievable part of my memory (along with everything I learned in GCSE Geography).


So, I figure I'd sort myself out a personal website of sorts. Y'know, a blog, a rather empty looking portfolio, etceteras... I've already designed most of it, but I need one of those shiny host things.


I had a look around last night and, annoyingly, the only places I can find are either grossly overselling, or don't appear to be selling at all. Now, I don't want to be finding everything goes as slowly as a Ford Ka stuck in a sand trap, but similarly I don't want to wake up one morning and find that my host has been e-boarded up through lack of money.


Here's my potential list of requirements. Do tell me if they're rubbish.


  • Don't need a lot of space, but I want room to breathe. Around 500mb minimum, I'd say.
  • I don't need that much bandwidth. But I don't want to be cut off if I accidentally stray over the set limits.
  • I'd love a UK-based host (so I can phone up and shout at them), but it's not essential.
  • I don't really want a 'free' domain unless I can be sure they won't hold it hostage when/if I leave.
  • Price wise, under £40 ($65) a year if no domain included. That's the max price though, unless it's utterly fantastic.


Places I've looked at:

Powweb - Oversell, oversell, oversell.
Fatcow - Pretty, but oversell, oversell...
A Small Orange - Looks very good, but at the top end of my price range
Hostgator - Good customer service (apparently), but oversells and is fairly expensive
JSHosts - UK based, cheap, but barely used by the looks of the support forums. No phone number provided either, and less than 3 staff members apparently.
Media Temple - Fantastic, if I had £140 to spend.
Laughing Squid - Looks good, but over budget and uses scary sounding 'Cloud' hosting, which is for some reason considerably cheaper. Hmm...


But none of those are perfect really. Well Media Temple is, but it's far more than I need. Arrrrgh...





Anyway, amongst all this confusion I thought I'd consult the lovely people at GTP. Who are you hosted with? Would you recommend them? Do any of the above need to be avoided like the plague?



Cheers,

Jon
 
I'm with 1&1, who have been very good. Highly reliable, I've probably had 4hrs' downtime total in the last 8 years. Some of their hosting could be a little more flexible, but I would recommend them. Servers are in Germany but they have a UK business presence.

Avoid Fasthosts. It's ironic, since they're also owned by 1&1, but they're much cheaper. With 1&1, it seems like you get what you pay for. Their budget arm does not have any of the qualities of their pricier offerings.
 
Ive been with One.com, apparently originating in Denmark. Never had any reason to contact them. have no idea what my bandwidth is but suspect my photography website doesnt get that much hits as I don't "advertise" it.

AMG.
 
GilesGuthrie
I'm with 1&1, who have been very good. Highly reliable, I've probably had 4hrs' downtime total in the last 8 years. Some of their hosting could be a little more flexible, but I would recommend them. Servers are in Germany but they have a UK business presence.

Avoid Fasthosts. It's ironic, since they're also owned by 1&1, but they're much cheaper. With 1&1, it seems like you get what you pay for. Their budget arm does not have any of the qualities of their pricier offerings.
Click to expand...

Ahh yes, I've heard about 1&1. Annoyingly their packages sit either side of what I actually want. The £1.99 a month package might be a little constricting for me, and the one up from that would be £60 per year if it weren't for the discount.

Anyway, thanks, I'll bear it in mind. I shall have a think, and if I reckon I can manage with 250mb I'll definitely be considering it :)
 
Well, I've been on powweb for more than 4 years and can count the number of times I've had issues with one hand. Inexpensive, and provides pretty much everything I need. My site doesn't show much, but I've a ton of work and personal info buried on it. Somewhere in the realm of 3 gig.
 
In the end I gave up and have bought the basic package from JSHosts.com, purely because it seems to be the lesser and cheaper of the 4 evils. I figure if it disappears in a couple of months, at least I've only paid £15 for my annual package. And any data I lose isn't valuable - it's essentially a carbon copy of whatever I have on my laptop. No forums and whatnot to worry about.

Cheers for the help though, chaps :)
 

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