gcsnet.net?

[Hobbes]

Anyone have a site here? looks interesting.. I might want to get there someday lol

[is0lized]

its slow

[anixs]

:D:D:D It's fast! :D:D:D

[BiteTheBugByte]

They are fast ...

unfortunately it´s not so easy to get 200 visits daily within one week having absolut legal content on your site... but for those out there who fill their preconditions should give em a try.

so far

[anixs]

I get only 50 a day so I e-mailed them asking if they would delete my site.. they said: no, the requirement is to keep away people who want hosting but never actually upload anything. As far as I know they just want active accounts.

[Canuckkev]

Originally posted by anixs
I get only 50 a day so I e-mailed them asking if they would delete my site.. they said: no, the requirement is to keep away people who want hosting but never actually upload anything. As far as I know they just want active accounts.





That's good to know. I will feel sorta bad signing up for a few accounts though, cause for some reason they assign IP's to users when you sign up. This is someting I don't need, and it costs them money every time they do it. Besides, I hope my site will get 200 visits daily. Isn't that good enough?

[Canuckkev]

They have awesome support. And amazing speed. It took less than a minue to upload my whole site. Currently that is only 8 MB, but compare that with taking like 5 mins. I was loading images off my site at 200+ KB/s. Any other free hosts that fast? I haven't seen any.

[Coolin]

I heard someone say that their IP points to Tera-byte, perhaps they got a dedicated server there? It explains the speed...

[LastActionHero]

from gcsnet.net


Size doesn't matter! gcsnet.net has lifted the 200 hits per
day requirement to qualify for our hosting service.As long
as you are ready to upload your content right away, we will
host you.

Question is how long will they last now?

[programmer2k]

Anyone has a site hosted by them?

let me see how fast it loads

[BiteTheBugByte]

I fear that they won´t last for long ...

however, I think it´s the greatest service ever released in this combo so far.... am I right?

[itsme]

Guys, give gcsnet.net a chance maybe this time u guys finally found what you've been looking for?


[Edited by itsme on 03-07-2001 at 06:54 AM]

[BiteTheBugByte]

Sure I give em a chance ;)

I just have this foreshadowing ....

[programmer2k]

they're risking...losing money

They are giving away STATIC IP

wow

for people who get only 200 or over hits per day.

[Canuckkev]

Originally posted by programmer2k
Anyone has a site hosted by them?

let me see how fast it loads

Well, be warned, my site is under construction. If you want to see the increadible speed, my site is here (http://3dflux.gcsnet.net)

Compare that with the one on datablocks by clicking here (http://3dflux.datablocks.net).

Hey, if this is breaking the forum rules, go ahead and delete my post.

*EDIT*

Hmm...datablocks.net is still down. That link won't work.

[Edited by Canuckkev on 03-07-2001 at 06:49 PM]

[syanet]

I opened the first and a few seconds later Databloocks and Datablocks opened first. In fact, gcsnet.net didn't open at all.

[Coolin]

Same with me, I wonder what happened to gcsnet? Are they down often?

[BiteTheBugByte]

Yes, they seem to had a lil downtime before but now they´re even more faster, maybe they did an upgrade or so ...

[ashben]

Latest news from their site:

Size doesn't matter! gcsnet.net has lifted the 200 hits per day requirement to qualify for our hosting service. As long as you are ready to upload your content right away, we will host you.

More features! Due to numerous requests we have made available PHP4 and mailing list access. Also, our system is fully compatible with free web-based mail services such as everyone.net -- you can now offer your visitors free e-mail addresses@yourdomain.com!

Advertising? We are currently ad-free since we are still in the developmental stages of our hosting service. However, users may notice occasional test ads load with their site.

[bobyx]

Gcsnet is really great and they are hosted by Tera-Byte (the DNS servers are at terabyte).
The guys in the "Paid Hosting" forum recommend Tera-Byte because it's very fast and reliable...
The current adfree status is really great.
I really like the siteadmin section. It looks pretty :)
I just hope that it won't go out of business since the offer so much...

[melz]

ugh ... their server is a Cobalt RAQ :(

[BiteTheBugByte]

Originally posted by melz
ugh ... their server is a Cobalt RAQ :(

so what?

[Canuckkev]

Yeah, so what? Right now it's friggin fast.

[Robert]

I'm not a guy who likes to put people down, I feel that everyone has the power within them to own a fwp, but they will not last with the features they are offering and with a dedicated from tera-byte. I really do hope for the best but I don't really see them operating from 2 months from now and have no financial problems. That's just my opinion. Let me explain... if they ordered their server at the time Tera-Byte was offering the dedicated RaQ3 for $99/monthly with 50gb of bandwidth, than there's a good chance. But if they are at regular cost, nah.. also... a static ip? come on now.. be realistic.. no ads? .. 100mb of space .. ? hmm.. it's gonna last..

[Edited by robert on 03-08-2001 at 08:13 PM]

[Haze]

They will have ads.. all you guys are talking as if the will remain ad free, and as stated in a few other replys they will have ads..

[itsme]

I believe since u'r not paying anything u've nothing to lose :cool:

[Canuckkev]

And the beauty of using redirection is that when one brand new host fails within a month, you just just upload your files to the next one. But I'm hoping to have an Ikonboard up, do I don't want the host it's on to be changing that often.

[is0lized]

well, seems liek gcsnet doesnt have ads right now ;]

[anixs]

Ads are starting to show up on my site. But they gotta make money somehow. I'm impressed tho, it's only a 300x120 window that doesn't come into the foreground.. I never noticed it until I closed Internet Explorer.

[is0lized]

< from gcsnet.net >


Advertising? We are currently ad-free since we are still in

the developmental stages of our hosting service. However,

users may notice occasional test ads load with their site.

Advertising comments and suggestions are encouraged.

[LeX]

Well, they're currently disabling signups due to system upgrades, according to their site. Too bad... :(


from http://www.gcsnet.net/signup.html
03/09/01 -- 10:40 MST

We are not taking applications for the next 12 hours due to a system upgrade.

[LeX]

from http://www.gcsnet.net/policies.html

Domain Names. We will host your existing domain name for free. You must edit your domain record and use our nameservers in order for your site to properly function. If we purchase you a domain name, we retain ownership of that domain until: 1. Your site has received least 500
unique hits per day for six months or 2. You pay us a $50 fee to transfer ownership to you. This fee only serves to compensate us for our time and expense in regards to your initial domain purchase. However, depending on your situation, we may choose to waive the transfer fee. If a user is found to be abusing our TOS and loses their account, we will not transfer ownership of the domain to that user. When the domain expires, the user is free to register it for his or herself.
Wish/hope Namezero is like that... *sigh*

[JacklePoP]

Well, i'm with gcsnet.net for now, i hope. They have a pop-behind ad when you visit any gcsnet member sites. I think it doesn't come up for another 72 hour or so. At least that's what i understand.

If banners would keep them alive, which i really do hope so, then i'd rather have a banner, of course, i want to be able to place the banner myself. And no, i don't place it in a place where no one can see.

[Technics]

They can host a maximum of 250 sites on the RAQ and that is not enough sites to make any money back.

Unlimited bandwidth? maybe they can get away with it but since they have 100gb bandwidth and its $3 per extra gigabyte at tera-byte i dont think that unlimited claim will last long.

100mb x 250 = more than a 10.2gb harddrive.

have fun.

[BiteTheBugByte]

Originally posted by Technics
They can host a maximum of 250 sites on the RAQ and that is not enough sites to make any money back.

Unlimited bandwidth? maybe they can get away with it but since they have 100gb bandwidth and its $3 per extra gigabyte at tera-byte i dont think that unlimited claim will last long.

100mb x 250 = more than a 10.2gb harddrive.

have fun.

250 sites is not enough to make any money back??? Why do you think that?

[Technics]

tell how many fwp have survived with under a 1000 users?

[BiteTheBugByte]

well, actually I dunno how many members those FWP´s have....

[boredboi]

Originally posted by Technics
tell how many fwp have survived with under a 1000 users?

fwps with helpful and supportive members

if we support gcsnet.net as much as possible
and be like Lynks, clicking on their banners every now and then, this fwp might just survive. if they, together with supportive members, could keep abuse at a minimum, the may just flourish.

for some reason, perhaps because of their great features, i really feel like supporting gcsnet.


[Edited by boredboi on 03-12-2001 at 12:46 AM]

[ashben]

I'm sure that clicking their link would help them a bit but to really survive in the free hosting scene you need to have a solid revenue model & a backup plan (in case things don't work out).

For some reason, I haven't see both with gcsnet.net. No doubt they have a great feature set (static IP, PHP, MySQL ..) but I've seen a lot of such FWP's come & go. For instance, there was freesqlhost.com with SQL Server 7, ASP, ASP+ .. hosting but they only lasted a few months.

I wish they make it though!

[bobyx]

I think that you can earn enough with just 250 users.
Just do some simple math:
250 users with lets say 250 uniques per day (their policy is that they only accept sites with more than 200 visitors per day). That is 62500 unique views per day. They're currently using goclick which pays 2.5$ cpm. This way the could earn 156,25$ per day or 4600$ per month. This is probably enough to pay the bills for a dedicated server, don't you think?

[BiteTheBugByte]

Not to forget that there should be sites that get more than 200 visits a day....

[bobyx]

Sorry... They're actually using popuptraffic which pays 3$ cpm.

[BiteTheBugByte]

so they should accumulate even more, and don´t have to wait their members to click on banners .... am I right?

[syanet]

But half the sites hosted by them are gettting less than 200 hits and by time they notice these sites have been cutting alot out of their revenue model.

[ashben]

I feel that people getting more than 200 unique hits per day on their sites would like to see a professional hosting environment with no ads of ANY sort. That doesn't leave too many high-traffic sites opting for a service similar as gcsnet.

[ashben]

Originally posted by bobyx
I think that you can earn enough with just 250 users.
Just do some simple math:
250 users with lets say 250 uniques per day (their policy is that they only accept sites with more than 200 visitors per day). That is 62500 unique views per day. They're currently using goclick which pays 2.5$ cpm. This way the could earn 156,25$ per day or 4600$ per month. This is probably enough to pay the bills for a dedicated server, don't you think?

If 8192Kbps/2592GB transfer bandwidth for a Cobalt RaQ 3i dedicated hosting plan from Tera-Byte (their parent-host) costs $5200+$500+$125/month then how do they plan to survive on a $4600 revenue by offering unlimited bandwidth to member sites?

[syanet]

Did that include the bandwidth from these automated backups they offer?

Also, after the OS is installed the RaQ3 only has 7.5GB's of space left. So if their giving 100MB of space then 7500/10 = Roughly 75. Not even close to the 250 used in your profit estimation.

[BiteTheBugByte]

Don´t you think that they made any calculations BEFORE they started their service?
It would be too naive to think this way unless their member staff consists only of kids without practical experience and/or knowledge ...

[syanet]

Quick recalculation:

Lets assume 75 sites per server since that is the max giving 100MB. We'll assume each sites gets 150 unique hits per day because despite not hosting sites with less then 250 some will slip by until their caught. We'll include all cheaters in the 150 as well. So 75*150=11,250 unique hits per day. If they're using Popuptraffic them 11,250*$3.00=$33.75/day or $1012/month. Now, lets assume $135 for the server and IP's, plus approxamenly the $900 in over bandwidth charges since everyone can have unlimited bandwidth, and they will break even at best.

<edit>Also, a lot of the popups will be closed before there counted by the ad company, so please subtract 25% from the above profit estimation. This would calculate to a $300+ loss per month.</edit>

[Edited by syanet on 03-12-2001 at 02:24 PM]

[programmer2k]

I don't think they think everyone will use up all 100 megs of space

[is0lized]

Originally posted by programmer2k
I don't think they think everyone will use up all 100 megs of space


i was just about to say that

each user will probley use arround 15 megs max if no files

[JacklePoP]

Well, i always use up less than 5 megs of space. I don't know why too...

[Epgs]

same with me unless i have had a forum that was pretty big.

[ashben]

Thats not my point guys. I'm with gcsnet as much you are. But, as an end user I would like to see more transparency in a service plan before hosting my hardworked web application with any FWP for that matter.

The guys at gcsnet have to be aware of all the facts & figures we are discussing but I strongly feel they are missing something. If you checkout their forums you'll see that their staff is still figuring out a "good" ad system. Now aren't things like these decided before hand or am I way off ..

[BiteTheBugByte]

sure, you´re right and I won´t register right now, I´ll wait for some weeks (or months) to see how things are going. Besides, http://www.f2s.com is ad-free and they survived and/or still exist, however you´d like to state that.

[itsme]

any staff from gcsnet.net here, maybe wish to share some light?

[BiteTheBugByte]

Originally posted by itsme
any staff from gcsnet.net here, maybe wish to share some light?

I think they would have replied already, if they´d be here...

[ashben]

Originally posted by BiteTheBugByte
sure, you´re right and I won´t register right now, I´ll wait for some weeks (or months) to see how things are going. Besides, http://www.f2s.com is ad-free and they survived and/or still exist, however you´d like to state that.

I'm in the queue too, you know ;-)