Neil McRae
New Member
I am looking for a host (for my Personal website) that has 24/7 tech support and an active support forum on their site after the bad experience I just had with VeoWeb. I had actually started with Innerweb when I first put my site on a paid host four years ago, but two years ago and two years after that VeoWeb bought them out. I had a payment due last month (I was suppose to be paying VeoWeb once every 12 months for my site) but it didn't go through because they said my credit card was declined because my credit card expired months before and I haven't updated my credit card information since then. I know that it is my procrastination and that I was responsible for updating my credit card information on time, but when VeoWeb sent me the E-mail telling me that my credit card was declined, they didn't give me a valid link where I could go and update my billing information. I think that link would have still been valid if I had updated my credit card information sooner, but then I replied to that E-mail from VeoWeb asking them for a valid link and then they replied and told me not to worry about overdue payments for now and they also told me in that same reply that they (VeoWeb) has been bought out by FWSH (Fire Website Hosting). So I then sent an E-mail to FWSH asking them for a valid link where I could update my billing information and then from what I could understand of them when they replied it sounded like they said that VeoWeb had decided not to sell the hosting customer to them and that they (FWSH) also said that my billing was being done by VeoWeb, that FWSH doesn't have access to VeoWeb's billing information, and to contact VeoWeb regarding my billing information. I then contacted VeoWeb a second time asking them for a valid link, but they replied and told me again not to worry about my site being deleted for not making my payment on time. And then a few days after that, my site went down and I didn't know why. I thought maybe that it did get deleted for not making my payment on time. So anyway, I contacted VeoWeb once again and asked them why my site was down and then when they replied that time they told me that my site is no longer hosted with them and is now hosted with FWSH. So they had me jumping from place to place to get support. Anyway, I was mad at VeoWeb now. I replied to that last reply where they told me for the second time that my site is no longer hosted with them and then they didn't reply to that reply until a week later when they replied and told me that Ron of FWSH managed to botch the transfer and lose hundreds of websites including my website. So that's why my site went down. But luckily, I have a copy of my website backed up on my hard drive with it's latest update meaning that this is the latest version of my site that I have backed up on my hard drive. So when I get my new host, I can just upload that copy and I won't have to re-create my site. I don't think I should host with FWSH after they managed to lose my website data. Also last month, I got an E-mail from Innerweb saying that they are now back in business, but I don't think I should consider hosting with them again after being bumped away from them the first time because if it happened before I could get bumped away from them again sometime in the future to yet another host. So I think there should be something wrong with the company if first being sold and return back. And before I sign up with a host, I will thoroughly research their background to ensure that I don't end up in the same situation a second time. And I want a host who doesn't tell me not to worry about overdue payments and not to worry about my site being deleted for not making payments on time.
Now to add to that, I had a second bad experience when I posted my requirements at WebHostingTalk's Forum. I respect the rule at that board where hosts are no longer allowed to respond to requests that contain my requirements and that things do change within a period of four years, all I meant was that it's a tough and unwelcoming thing to come to IMO after my first bad experience with VeoWeb which I described above. It's now been almost three weeks since my site went down and I have made no progress since then while posting at that board. I have been under a lot of stress since my site went down and I find it to be a big inconvenience going through all the hassle of trying to find a new host. All I want is to have my site back up on my new host whoever they may be and have the whole nightmare over with. Anyway, I won't go into more detail about my second bad experience.
Now, here are my requirements:
-$5 Canadian or less per month.
-atleast 100 MB of space.
-atleast 4 or 5 GB of bandwidth per month.
-cPanel (I prefer cPanel over Plesk)
-supports FTP uploads. (I use WS_FTP95 LE)
-no file size limits.
-allows external linking of image files and downloadable ZIP files. In other words, I get the option of enabling and disabling "Hotlink Protection."
-atleast 25 E-mail accounts/addresses.
-a descent number of FTP accounts. (I'd say maybe atleast 5 to start with)
NOTE: I believe that an FTP account is where I can assign a user to a subdirectory under my hosting account so that they can upload files to that subdirectory as well as any of its subdirectories. Kind of like my account on the paid host being a host itself where I can host users for free.
-the ability to host a phpBB forum. (I currrently have a forum on my site that is powered by phpBB.) (I might also want my host to have the ability to host an Invision Power Board.)
-24/7 tech support. (I want a host where I always get a fast response if I contact them or submit a helpdesk ticket and where someone will always be there say while the host's staff takes a vacation.)
-host always sends me an invoice each time I have a payment coming up.
-and if I have a payment due while I was sent an E-mail months before saying that my credit card has expired and I haven't yet updated my credit card infomration, I always get a warning E-mail in advance before my account is deleted or I'm frequently prompted via E-mail once my credit card has expired until my credit card information is updated.
-supports the VISA credit card as payment method and doesn't require me to use PayPal.
-allows me to pay annually (once per year) for my hosting. I would prefer this option over paying my host once every month or once every three months.
-host has a forum on its site where members can ask for technical support as well as ask eachother for help with MySQL/CGI issues, FTP issues, etc.
And I am looking for "UNIX / LINUX HOSTING." Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that would be the best out of these six following hosting options for a Personal website about a classic computer game:
-UNIX / LINUX HOSTING
-WINDOWS HOSTING
-RESELLER HOSTING
-E-COMMERCE HOSTING
-DEDICATED SERVERS
-COLOCATION HOSTING
And if whichever host I end up going with has their own domain service, I would like to transfer my domain (which is stuntsillusion.com) over to them because that domain is currently hosted with Registerapi who are (or use to be, I'm not sure if they still are) associated with Innerweb. And now while I'm in the process of changing hosts, it might be a good time to get rid of the subdomain stunts.illusionwd.com which my domain is currently parked on top of and is currently the master domain for my account and making stuntsillusion.com the master domain for my account so that I can enable E-mail on that domain such as user@stuntsillusion.com for example. So this way, I can finaly get rid of my free Yahoo Mail account and give myself one of the 25 or more E-mail addresses that will be on my account. Now, here are my requirements for the domain hosting:
-host allows me to redirect my domain to any URL outside the host I end up going with incase any time in the future I end up changing hosts again I can still keep my domain with this host if I'm still satisfied with their service. So in other words, as long as the host supports URL redirecting.
-host allows me to use the E-mail part of Netscape to access my mail and Netscape Composer to compose my messages if I enable E-mail on my domain.
And finaly, I did say in my post at that other board that I would try to cut back on making such large posts when I post at this board. This should hopefully be my largest post out of all the posts I make on this board and out of this post combined with all the replies (if any) I add to this topic because I do have a lot of requirements.
-Neil
Now to add to that, I had a second bad experience when I posted my requirements at WebHostingTalk's Forum. I respect the rule at that board where hosts are no longer allowed to respond to requests that contain my requirements and that things do change within a period of four years, all I meant was that it's a tough and unwelcoming thing to come to IMO after my first bad experience with VeoWeb which I described above. It's now been almost three weeks since my site went down and I have made no progress since then while posting at that board. I have been under a lot of stress since my site went down and I find it to be a big inconvenience going through all the hassle of trying to find a new host. All I want is to have my site back up on my new host whoever they may be and have the whole nightmare over with. Anyway, I won't go into more detail about my second bad experience.
Now, here are my requirements:
-$5 Canadian or less per month.
-atleast 100 MB of space.
-atleast 4 or 5 GB of bandwidth per month.
-cPanel (I prefer cPanel over Plesk)
-supports FTP uploads. (I use WS_FTP95 LE)
-no file size limits.
-allows external linking of image files and downloadable ZIP files. In other words, I get the option of enabling and disabling "Hotlink Protection."
-atleast 25 E-mail accounts/addresses.
-a descent number of FTP accounts. (I'd say maybe atleast 5 to start with)
NOTE: I believe that an FTP account is where I can assign a user to a subdirectory under my hosting account so that they can upload files to that subdirectory as well as any of its subdirectories. Kind of like my account on the paid host being a host itself where I can host users for free.
-the ability to host a phpBB forum. (I currrently have a forum on my site that is powered by phpBB.) (I might also want my host to have the ability to host an Invision Power Board.)
-24/7 tech support. (I want a host where I always get a fast response if I contact them or submit a helpdesk ticket and where someone will always be there say while the host's staff takes a vacation.)
-host always sends me an invoice each time I have a payment coming up.
-and if I have a payment due while I was sent an E-mail months before saying that my credit card has expired and I haven't yet updated my credit card infomration, I always get a warning E-mail in advance before my account is deleted or I'm frequently prompted via E-mail once my credit card has expired until my credit card information is updated.
-supports the VISA credit card as payment method and doesn't require me to use PayPal.
-allows me to pay annually (once per year) for my hosting. I would prefer this option over paying my host once every month or once every three months.
-host has a forum on its site where members can ask for technical support as well as ask eachother for help with MySQL/CGI issues, FTP issues, etc.
And I am looking for "UNIX / LINUX HOSTING." Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that would be the best out of these six following hosting options for a Personal website about a classic computer game:
-UNIX / LINUX HOSTING
-WINDOWS HOSTING
-RESELLER HOSTING
-E-COMMERCE HOSTING
-DEDICATED SERVERS
-COLOCATION HOSTING
And if whichever host I end up going with has their own domain service, I would like to transfer my domain (which is stuntsillusion.com) over to them because that domain is currently hosted with Registerapi who are (or use to be, I'm not sure if they still are) associated with Innerweb. And now while I'm in the process of changing hosts, it might be a good time to get rid of the subdomain stunts.illusionwd.com which my domain is currently parked on top of and is currently the master domain for my account and making stuntsillusion.com the master domain for my account so that I can enable E-mail on that domain such as user@stuntsillusion.com for example. So this way, I can finaly get rid of my free Yahoo Mail account and give myself one of the 25 or more E-mail addresses that will be on my account. Now, here are my requirements for the domain hosting:
-host allows me to redirect my domain to any URL outside the host I end up going with incase any time in the future I end up changing hosts again I can still keep my domain with this host if I'm still satisfied with their service. So in other words, as long as the host supports URL redirecting.
-host allows me to use the E-mail part of Netscape to access my mail and Netscape Composer to compose my messages if I enable E-mail on my domain.
And finaly, I did say in my post at that other board that I would try to cut back on making such large posts when I post at this board. This should hopefully be my largest post out of all the posts I make on this board and out of this post combined with all the replies (if any) I add to this topic because I do have a lot of requirements.
-Neil
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