Thoughts on catalog.com?

[DanG]

Hi! I've been looking for free/low-cost hosting. My needs are not horrendous bandwidth-wise (< 10 meg, not a lot of hits), but I use SSI/CGI and I've been thinking I want to have a domain (I don't want to "keep moving" my site). e-mail a plus, with pop/web mail a bigger plus. I wanted to get into a place that will "grow with me" if the needs arise. Seems like catalog.com has a good deal. Register the domain with them and I get a free site with all the goodies (and no banners). I am guessing they get revenue from a.) trying to pump you for as many domain names as possible (I gave it a try and they suggested I register a bunch more names), and b.) "up-sells" for sites that grow. Anybody have experience with them, or better suggestions? Thanks!

[ccreighton]

Dan,

I currently have a dedicated server with Catalog.com and happily recommend them. Their support, to date, has been excellent and very flexible. I know the first month I had the server I wore tech support out. But each time they were helpful and corteous.

As far as I can tell there is no catch to their free offer. Of course the domain is $35 per year. Which is a bit high for a domain name but considering the website and all it's a good deal. The only thing questionable is you only receive 1 gig of traffic allowance a month. If you don't plan on a lot of traffic that would not pose a problem. And $2 per additional gig is very fair price on todays bandwidth market.

About a month and half ago they had moved data centers and ran into some backbone provider problems, bottle necks, minor brown-outs, but it was resolved within a few weeks and I've not noticed any problems since.

Hope that helps.