What Do You Want In A Web Host?

[TSO]

No, he isn't. I did not oversell either back when I was providing hosting.

Do you still sell? Doesn't sound like it, therefore your's does not count. Non-overselling hosts are a rarity in the industry today. Those who do not have a great competitive advantage in the minds of clients looking for the most stable hosting available.

 

[Tyler]

Do you still sell? Doesn't sound like it, therefore your's does not count. Non-overselling hosts are a rarity in the industry today. Those who do not have a great competitive advantage in the minds of clients looking for the most stable hosting available.

By all means, rate me negative because you don't like the fact I disagreed with you - that is really quite mature and shows your character for what it really is.

I stopped providing free hosting because I realised how pointless it was. The majority of signups you get are spam or people under VPN looking to abuse your services. Out of maybe a hundred signups only one will host a real website - and usually, it's a fairly simple website and not worth spending $235 on a month.

There are many paid web hosts out there that do not oversell - you just have to search through the thousands of kid hosts that offer unlimited and fold in a month or two.

 

[TaoPhoenix]

By all means, rate me negative because you don't like the fact I disagreed with you - that is really quite mature and shows your character for what it really is.

I stopped providing free hosting because I realised how pointless it was. The majority of signups you get are spam or people under VPN looking to abuse your services. Out of maybe a hundred signups only one will host a real website - and usually, it's a fairly simple website and not worth spending $235 on a month.

There are many paid web hosts out there that do not oversell - you just have to search through the thousands of kid hosts that offer unlimited and fold in a month or two.

Tyler, if you could guarantee quality clients, would you still consider it pointless?

It is sounding to me that there is a business split here - A roving consultant that uses a spinoff server to churn through the fake signups, and then passes the good ones on to the real host. Sounds like you could measure (Quality) Clients Per Hundred (Signups) aka CPH. Sure there's grades of "quality" from Timecube to Cat Lady to Guild Owners, but it's pretty easy to agree there's a sharp cliff between all those and pure junk spam. It might be a source of cash for people running free hosts - if a type of client doesn't work for them, they could refer the lead on for a few dollars. (For now forget all the ways that any metric can be cheated, or the abuse from churn companies that pretend to be actual hosts themselves - oh wait! Those are the 4 month special types).

If someone's entire job is just processing these, it's a different emotional result than each host doing it themselves and getting upset.

 

[TaoPhoenix]

Every host oversells. Doesn't have to be 'unlimited' to be overselling. Keep that in mind.

Shout out to IsMyWebsite. They don't oversell either.

 

[Daray]

What I would look in a web host are probably the most important things that every host should have:

• Decent specs - space/bandwidth at least 500 MB / 10 GB
• Speed and reliability - replying support tickets within 24 hours of submitting
• Stability - a non-fly-by-night host :biggrin2: - really hard to find...

There's probably more, but I'll stick to those for now...

 

[ashkir]

When I was a teenager and couldn't afford my own hosting I had quite some demands. I really just wanted a host that would let me keep my image portfolio, and my web portfolio in one place. But these free hosts were horrible with staying open. Always disappearing after a month or two, or bad downtime.

I eventually got offered a small plan (500megabytes of harddisk space and 5 gigs transfer) from RackSpace for free. After about two years I closed my account with them. They treated me like I was paying for their services. They were so very helpful. They introduced me to the world of paid hosting when I was ready. Sadly by the time I was ready to pay for hosting RackSpace had became a major player in hosting and their prices seemed to skyrocket out of my reach.

Right now, I host a few reseller sites and my sites and projects of mine. I bought such a large reseller and friends wanted to move away from blogspot and wordpress so I gave them their own cPanel accounts. Eventually my friends just told me to throw a hosting form up and make my site evolve around topics that interest me that I'm hosting.

I have several hundred gigabytes of transfer and harddisk space that is unused.

I however, hate to see these demands of people:
- 5 gigabytes harddisk
- 250 gigabytes bandwidth

Those are really unrealistic and take up about a third of the server (the bandwidth anyway).

A free host I saw had a brilliant plan, but too bad they closed early. Their plan was this:
- Start at small packages like 500 mb and 3 gigs bandwidth.
- If they reach their cap, promote their package automatically.
This allowed for the free host to not oversell in theory. But, they still disappeared after like three weeks.

If my space starts getting clunky, I won't host anyone new.

 

[John Phoenix]

Whats important to me in a free host?

cPanel, FTP, PHP, MySQL, <-- Those things I could care less about. Those are just tools used by the service. I don't care what tools the service uses as long as I get my requirements met.

Of course reliability and secure servers are a must but I need the right features for me. I need enough free space to run a small website with perhaps up to 10-15 pages. No selling. A forum, the ability to embed you tube videos and a free subdomain that is very short and easy to remember, and not off the wall like .US. So my URL would be www.nocig.us ( I'm still looking for my free host)

 

[oniscorp]

Just one thing

The golden rule: they do what they say they're doing....and know how to do it! OK, so that's two rules, heh...

 

[landoformosa]

mostly flexibility of payment options i guess:cool2:

 

[deanhills]

I'd be interested in a Web host who shows that he is selective as far as his customers go and has certain rules with regard to conducting his business that his customers have to conform to as well. If he has a good dose of integrity as far as selection of his customers go, then that would be a good sign of how he does his business as well. I would hate a host that bends over to please every whim, and can't meet his promises. I prefer a Web host who is conservative and stands firm on how he conducts his business. I don't care how he does the technical bits of his business, but I'd want to know I can trust him for uptime and regular backups. As well as a fair turnaround in request for support, if and when needed, particularly at the time of start-ups.

 

[gmnetworks]

Well, I would a web host that is honest, does not oversell space and bandwidth, has good uptime, friendly staff, great support, and is flexible with payment options and upgrading options.

 

[TaoPhoenix]

The golden rule: they do what they say they're doing....and know how to do it! OK, so that's two rules, heh...

Still only one rule! As long as they do what they say, who cares if they don't know how?

LeprechaunHost FTW!

"I'm not sure how my server is up since the power went out all over town in the storm..."

 

[hourb]

for me the best things in a good web host is the uptime and the speed of the forum if its runs fast then wow

 

[H4K3DP1X3L]

The main things that I look for in a host is speed, reliability and support. Those are the main things I look for when ordering from a host.