Choosing a new Host: Help Highly Welcomed :)

[santimariani]

First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to help. I am relatively new to webhosting and using vBulletin, so I will greatly appreciate any help I can get.

I am currently running a message board for a college, projects-based program. As a result, it needs to be highly professional and have good features. The program has about 70 members, which translates into 70 members for the board. However, it is possible that the membership will be allowed to grow to 100 in the future. Although each year new members are added (about 10), about the same amount leave. Those who leave are allowed to still use the forum, so forum membership will continue grow (those who leave will most likely chose not to use the forum regularly though, if at all). However, so far, all the members have not been on at the same time. The most active users at one point has been 43, and it is likely that some of those accounts were simply left open as students went to class.

Right now, I am using Servage at my host. So far, it has been a very unpleasant experience. The first thing was with the whole max_questions thing, which I now know is a very bad thing for a host to impose. After installing the mods that I needed, I have experienced some lag at times, and some database errors a long the way (as well as not being able to install certain important mods, such as vSpell). For a list of my installed hacks, please look at my user profile.

I consulted the following thread for more information (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=530676&page=2), and have found one of my options to be ASmallOrange. Would this be a good host to have for my forum? I'm trying to learn as much as I can, so please let me know if there is anything else I should know!

And, by the way, I do not know what my server load is. Servage is not too helpful in providing this bit of info.


Thanks again! :)

[bashy]

Hi we supply hosting, take a look at www.bashys-hosting.com

[Cooleyvol]

I use hostdime.com and have for years with great results. My board has around 200 members and I've had no problems.

[lighti]

I can accomodate your website on my servers (dont want to spam) you can email me if you want the link to my business site Steve@Lighti.net is my direct email.

[DementedMindz]

I use hostdime.com and have for years with great results. My board has around 200 members and I've had no problems.


Used them for a long time till they messed up all my server settings on a vps and it crashed and kept crashing for months since then I have moved to Wired Tree (http://www.wiredtree.com/) and I have to say there support is amazng they answer and fix problems in less then 5 mins. take a look at there feedback on webhostingtalk. :up:

[santimariani]

I am thinking of going with ASmallOrange. Do any of you have good experiences with this company?

Thanks for the feedback so far :)

[nexialys]

asmallorange is the same level as servage...

for the kind of project you have, you may require some basic hosting on a solid reputed webhost, like hostgator.com .... the servers that suggest free stuff all around and unlimited stupidities are always craps...

[Brendan Lennon]

I use hostdime.com and have for years with great results. My board has around 200 members and I've had no problems.

I've had a bad experience with hostdime, with them for over 2-years and everything was fine until I enquired about an upgrade package for more space.

They were pushing for a dedicated hosting solution I didn't need, citing all manner of nonsense about cpu & ram usage and ultimately denied access to Sql databases and my entire ftp directory I needed for moving to another host provider.

The whole thing left a sour taste and wasn't resolved for over a week with the forum offline (I'm guessing 9 times out of 10 people just hand over the extra $$$), so if you're with them- don't ask about upgrading or you could be met by arrogant sales men who may hold your site to ransom also, and support or anyone else couldn't care less :down:

[towermatt]

I use HostRocket, they seem to be great!!

<--only been a few months

[mtlcore]

Hi santimariani, ASmallOrange is an excellent choice!

They provide the best support in the industry as far as I know. Their servers are really great with uptime and speed. Support tickets responded in seconds. Go with them. You won't regret it. :)

[eUKhost.com]

I am thinking of going with ASmallOrange. Do any of you have good experiences with this company?

Thanks for the feedback so far :)

You can check their reviews before signing up with them

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=621835&highlight=ASmallOrange

http://www.vistainter.com/reviews/A/asmallorange.com/

http://www.webhostingtestimonials.com/hosts_name.php?id=asmallorange-reviews-ratings

Hope this helps you .ATB:)

[dooch]

Servage is terrible, I recently put a new board on them. Although their bandwidth limits sound good, when you divide the amount between the days in the month you'll soon realise you'll run out of bandwidth. Also they dont allow for busy days and quiet days, if your website gets alot of traffic one day and bumps over the "daily" limit they take your website offline for the rest of the day!! So when they say monthly transfer allowed they actually mean... daily.

Have moved onto my own box and will not be renewing with them.

As for a new host, im UK and I think 4u-servers are good.

[Brandon Sheley]

I agree that you should do some research on any host you're thinking about using. WHT is a great resource for client reviews.

I'm using and suggest www.fluidhosting.com

I've been with them for almost a year and have no complaints.

[SherryG]

I am using CWI Hosting (http://www.cwihosting.com/) and, after trying many, many hosting companies, this one is superior by far. The customer service is unbeatable. My problems and questions are dealt with promptly and professionally within an hour or two via their support ticket system. Immediate support is obtained when phoning them directly.

I am now hosting my forum on a dedicated server and this was completely new territory for me. I was a total newbie and my host assisted me with my problems and explained how everything worked. I'm sure I must have drove them absolutely bananas but was always met with a friendly, professional attitude every time.

My site has been offline one time since my move to a dedicated server a year ago. Funny enough, the issue was not a fault of my hosting company (yahoo changed my nameservers) but my webhost was able to sort out the issue with Yahoo and fixed the problem for me!

I highly recommend these guys :up: Absolutely fantastic customer service!

[midorinome]

all of our sites (2 forums with almost 3,000 members a piece) use imountain.com. they have the absolute best support & their prices are fantastic. they will accommodate your every need (within reason, of course- no illegal stuff) & they really bust their butts. they always get back to you within a timely manner, too. they also use clustered web hosting, which has been awesome.

some of their specs are:

that their shared hosting server has 8 cpu cores & the mySQL has 16 cores (Quad and Octal core, but the absolute minimum is Dual Core)

they use reliable name brand equipment from places like IBM, HP & Linksys.

they always have between 6 and 16 gigs of ram in their servers

they are clustered (which means more reliable & faster)...

honestly... i can't say enough good things about this web host. they are the best i've ever hosted with in my 8+ years of bouncing around from web host to web host... i am never leaving them & if you hosted there, i'm sure you wouldn't want to leave them, either. they're absolutely fabulous!

check 'em out: http://www.imountain.com/

~ M

[Weapon-x]

Dreamhost, you'll never need another host again.

I've been hosting with them for 5 years.