Having trouble deciding between hosts

N

number6

New member
I've been reading posts on this forum, as well as some others, for about a month now, trying to select a host for a small, personal website I'm trying to put together. I've narrowed the choice down to three and would appreciate some guidance from the members here.

What I have in mind is a simple wiki for some old college friends, who now live all over the country, to reconnect. I know there are lots of sites that specifically host wikis, but most of them seem rather narrow in their offerings and, more importantly, are designed for public wikis (I'm looking to make mine private just between our group of friends). Down the road, I might want to add email based on the domain I registered, so a hosting company semed to make the most sense.

The three I'm interested in are (in no particular order):

Bluehost
Micfo
HostGator

All three offer plans that meet my budget (roughly $10/month), offer Fantastico (for Tikiwiki), are able to password protect the entire site itself in addition to the wiki, and seem to have gotten fairly positive reviews here (although many of the reviews seem to be a year old or more). I'm not all that concerned with space and bandwidth; the vast majority of what we'll be posting is text (hence, the wiki format). No streaming video, no audio clips, no files to transfer, and especially no business considerations (ecommerce, payment acceptance, ect.). Maybe a picure or two, but nothing resource intiesive. And since the site will be accessed by, say, 10 people at most, and infrequently at that, I don't think bandwidth will be a problem (although I'd appreciate being corrected if anyone sees this differently).

My main concerns are (in order, this time):

-quality/method of support
-reliability (uptime)
-backups

Having never run a site myself, I'm hoping to get through this with as few problems as possible, but I want to be prepared for when problems do arise. I certainly don't expect the host to admin my site for me, but I may need help getting things up and running initially.

Any and all opinions welcomed and appreciated!
 
Well number6, I can't say with certainty that none of the hosts above do what you require, but with these budget hosts with incredibly large offerings generally don't include quite the level of support that you're talking about. They'll do just fine (generally) as far as keeping your site online and so forth, but sometimes they cannot answer the little things that go wrong in an efficient manner.

They generally do a better job with backups though because of the availability to larger hosts. I don't know of any specific situations, but I would always say make sure to keep your own when you can.

As for choosing, test out their responses. Ask a few questions to the sales and even the support department if you can get to it.
 
MOD NOTE: Post removed. You are not allowed to post affiliate links anywhere on the HostingDiscussion forums (including signatures). We rely on your future cooperation. Thank you for your understanding.
 
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arcon5 said:
I know its not in your list but I dont like either company there!

I use H9 (click here) as they offer great support, great value and great server uptime!
Click to expand...

Nice affiliate link :smash:

We're about two months away from starting our own affiliate program, but every time I see crap like this I have to wonder what we're going to unleash on the world.

Anyhow, for $10 for a fairly low bandwidth site like number6 is talking about, s/he can get a good small host that actually gives a crap about their customers. I'd stay away from the big guys - they don't care about you and your $10.
 
hostingpuppy said:
Anyhow, for $10 for a fairly low bandwidth site like number6 is talking about, s/he can get a good small host that actually gives a crap about their customers. I'd stay away from the big guys - they don't care about you and your $10.
Click to expand...
Why do you say like that?
 
I've heard good things about HostGator, although the fact that they have now crossed the overselling barrier i am worried that their support will slip as well. :disagree:
 
Hotgator is the biggest company in the webhosting trade. They have many customers. I have heard that they have little bit inert support system. This is understandable. I suggest you have a look at not so big companies. They must love each customer. Look at **************.com. I'm sure they'll suit your fully.
 
MOD NOTE: Post removed. You are not allowed to post affiliate links anywhere on the HostingDiscussion forums (including signatures). We rely on your future cooperation. Thank you for your understanding.
 
For God's sake. Look at the post 6 above yours. No affiliate crap.

Based on the behaviour of affiliates on this board I'm seriously rethinking launching my own affiliate program. These two goofs have made their respective 'affiliate programs' look like cheap trash. I don't want people to do that to my name.
 
My main concerns are (in order, this time):

-quality/method of support
-reliability (uptime)
-backups
Click to expand...

Check each host to find their methods of support and their response policies to see if they suit your needs.

Many hosts have links to their uptime stats on their site but you can also use web tools to check the historic uptime for a particular host (although some are not very accurate)

BE CAREFUL of backup policies. Many hosts offer "daily backups" but often that doesn't mean your account, that means the server. So if the server you are on fries everybody will be restored (hopefully) but if you need your individual site restored it can't be done.
Other hosts offer individual site backups which is probably what you want. If so ask the host exactly how your site will be backed up and how it could be restored if needed.

And AVOID people who break forum rules so blatantly, if they don't play by the rules on a forum what do you expect from them/their host...sheesh... :smash:
 
number6 said:
The three I'm interested in are (in no particular order):

Bluehost
Micfo
HostGator
Click to expand...

i having account with hostgator and bluehost.
and few months with them. so far i happy with this two.
and there live chat feature is something nice to have.
 
HostGator has been in the game for a long time. If you would like a company with experience and expertise, then I would recommend using HostGator.

But, there could be some downfalls. Seeing how HostGator is so big, support might be a little slow or poor. Since they have such a huge client base, certain clients might feel left out or abandoned. This just doesn't go for HostGator, seeing how they are many other big companies out there.

I would recommend..
HostGator
HostNine
LunarPages
MediaTemplate

(in no particular order)
 
Seeing how HostGator is so big, support might be a little slow or poor.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. The bigger companies have numbers working against them a bit. Any company is bound to drop the ball from time to time. Even though it happens only once every 1000 tickets, it could translate into "once every day" for a big host, and "once a month" for a small one. (completely bogus numbers). That can lead to just as many more public complaints.

My personal experience with Hostgator over the years has been excellent.
 
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Hostgator is best but considerable

I have used hostgator and few months satisfied but few times found some unexpected behaviours. Still going well for my personal website.
 
Hostgator is best but considerable

I have used hostgator and few months satisfied but few times found some unexpected behaviours. Still going well for my personal website.
Now I have find another palace which is big one www.vodahost.com
They offer very good features
which are
- 6000 GB webspace
- 6000 GB monthly traffic
- Free domain name
- Very low price according to standards $7.95 per month.
With leading features webmasters needs to start business and lot of free ecommerce softwares such oscommerce, zen cart and open source templates etc. I really love this company because of its utilities and performance.
vodahost.com
Ateeq khan

MOD NOTE: You are not allowed to post affiliate links anywhere on the HostingDiscussion forums (including signatures). Thank you for your understanding!
 
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I am using Hostgator for about 2 years now and I have had no problems. It is true, due to the fact that I didn't experience problems I can't say how good their support team is. :)

I hope you will be happy with your decision.
 
I think the new packages of Blue Host offering 3000 gigs of transfer is good, haven't seen a package on Host Gator offering that price.

Also, I don't know how easy it is to automatically freely upgrade one's accounts but Blue Host can upgrade an account free and without the need to re upload the web pages.
 
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