What Specs would you be interested in?

[R. K. Raja]

Hi,

I might be starting a free hosting service in a couple months and want to know what features you guys would like. It would include CGI, MySQL, PHP, FTP, the basic necessities. I want to know how much space and bandwith you would be interested in? Please, nothing outrageous. Just wanted to know if you could go with something like 25mb space and 1gb bandwith.

It would be ad-free at first, with an option to place a text link if you'd like. After a couple months a banner ad at the bottom of the site may seem like a good idea. I'm not going to use any pop-ups or pop-unders, and no multiple banners.

I would respect your opinions and I hope to make this a nice service for everyone, if it does go up at all.


Thanks!

[[NeO]]

I would add a little more bandwith like 2GB.
I think 25MB space is more then enough.
Maybe an option to choose between popup or
banner ad is usefull too.

It sounds like a great service, hope it will be too

[deeplist]

I think that many people willl know that are planning to force a banner, even if it is small and at the bottom. They will not sign-up because they will be affraid that you will change it over, and they will decide they do not like banners placed on their pages.

[R. K. Raja]

Do you think it would be wise to offer a better, paid service in addition to the free hosting?

[deeplist]

Absolutely! That would definatly be a way to go!

[R. K. Raja]

Great...

Also, what kind of hosting would you need? Do you need domain hosting, or are you fine with subdomains?

[R. K. Raja]

One more thing I would like to ask, this is to anyone who runs a free hosting service... how many signups do you usually get? I wouldn't have a server of my own, I would probably lease a server so I need to know how much space and bandwith is good to have?

[deeplist]

Right now I have my own server. It has a 40gb hDD in it, but I will add another when needed. I usually get tons of requests daily. Since sign-ups are not automatic. I do it manually to keep out warez and porn. I offer unmetered bandwidth because I have unmetered bandwith to my server.

[DesertWolf]

Sounds like a great host! The 25 megabytes is great, and so is the BW. I also like the footbanner. It's alot better than one at the top.

You should also allow browser uploading, as not everybody is farmilliar with FTP. (EG: me)

[R. K. Raja]

I'm setting up my paid hosting service (I've decided to make that main) and I'll also have a free hosting service with 25mb space and 1gb bandwith on another server. I'll let you guys know in a couple of weeks

Thanks!

[stevenff7]

sound nice what features are inculded.

[conkermaniac]

Jon of HostingExtreme tells me that he gets around 200 sign-ups per day. Now, if your host offers what you're planning to offer, I can expect that your figures will probably start out at around 100. This is why I recommend you limit your specs to these:

5 MB (upgradable space)
100 MB transfer (upgradable transfer)
8 MB transfer per surfer per day
FTP
CGI or PHP/MySQL (don't offer both)
500 KB file size limit

The plan I have set out here will help reduce warez. I know that, for hosts, having to manually approve every account (as a warez prevention method) is very tedious work. Another thing...most accounts are not ever used, and not all used accounts will exceed 5 MB/100 MB transfer. However, for the users who do need an upgrade, you can manually give them up to 25 MB and 1 GB transfer. And of course, warez masters won't get that privilege.

[ibfw]

you should offer

100 megs space
2 gig data per month
PHP with MySQL.

[Cracker]

Originally posted by conkermaniac
Jon of HostingExtreme tells me that he gets around 200 sign-ups per day. Now, if your host offers what you're planning to offer, I can expect that your figures will probably start out at around 100. This is why I recommend you limit your specs to these:

5 MB (upgradable space)
100 MB transfer (upgradable transfer)
8 MB transfer per surfer per day
FTP
CGI or PHP/MySQL (don't offer both)
500 KB file size limit

The plan I have set out here will help reduce warez. I know that, for hosts, having to manually approve every account (as a warez prevention method) is very tedious work. Another thing...most accounts are not ever used, and not all used accounts will exceed 5 MB/100 MB transfer. However, for the users who do need an upgrade, you can manually give them up to 25 MB and 1 GB transfer. And of course, warez masters won't get that privilege.

Oh, come on! Why do you suggest he punish everyone just because of a few idiots who insist on storing pirated software!?

[the elf]

Why not offer what you can afford to pay for? If you over due yourself, I hope you have a large source of funding.

If you can afford to pay for what you offer (via banners or out of your pocket), then great offer it. If not… We all know what happens, another wham bam host.

I know you want to get peoples input on this, but remember, these people will suck every cent out of you (i.e. get as much as they can). Instead of trying to please the public, make sure you have a stable (actual service & cash wise) hosting service first.

Just my 2 cents.