your favorite web host/ISP

[nostatic]

My current ISP really pissed me off...long story but I'm sitting on hold right now after they shut down my site, altered one of my sub domains due to "high server loads" and sent email to a defunct address - then shut down the mail servers that it would have gone to had that address been working. I only found out about this when I initiated a trouble ticket on the site being down.

So who are you using and are you happy with them? I need a fair amount of disk space so more is better in that regard. I'm paying about $15/mo I think with my current isp.

[silverc4s]

Earthlink. not the cheapest, but has tons of resources, everywhere.

[Mule]

Are you talking dial up?

[nostatic]

no, I should clarify. This is for hosting websites, not providing a pipe to my house.

[stomachmonkey]

Currently use 1and1.com, serverbeach.com and rackspace.

All have been fine.

1and1 and serverbeach have the better values.

1and1 will let you do managed root which is unusual.

[Mule]

Those servers Macs?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Mule

Those servers Macs?

I wish, Linux, they'll have to do.

[Joeaksa]

www.westhost.com

Todd, I have been with them for several years and they just keep making things better and better. Everytime I turn around they increase my bandwidth and storage limits for free. I run several websites and one BBS off of the site. Just a month ago got tired of my old email provider and now have a dedicated IP address email setup there as well.

Just last week received an email offering to increase everything by TEN FOLD for .01 a month. Thats right, 1 penny, from $9.99 a month to $10.00 a month. I now have 25000 mb storage and 500,000 mb bandwidth per month for this price.

24/7/365 service and its a real person on the phone, and someone in the US, not overseas.

Very happy with them and nice guys. Would highly recommend them.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Mule

Those servers Macs?

no, otherwise I wouldn't have this problem

[Don Plumley]

I've been using http://www.hostgator.com/ for about a year now, works fine. I host about 7 or so domains and IMAP email accounts.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Don Plumley

I've been using http://www.hostgator.com/ for about a year now, works fine. I host about 7 or so domains and IMAP email accounts.

Watch them. They are resellers. They do not own the hardware nor do they have physical access to it.

[Joeaksa]

Personal Value Plan

By far, this is the best personal web hosting plan for the value! Packed with all the features and tools you will need to build and maintain your personal Web site, you really can't ask for more.
Compare PersonalCompare All

Core Features

* 7,500 MB Disk Space
o Disk space refers to the amount of storage your account is allocated within its WestHost Virtual Private Server. This space is used to store HTML files, graphics, audio/video, e-mail messages, and any other files that are part of your Web site. Learn More
* 150 GB Bandwidth
o Bandwidth refers to the amount of files that can be transferred to and from your Web site each month. This data includes html files, graphics, audio/video, e-mail messages, and any other files that are a part of your Web site. Learn More
* 50 E-mail / FTP Accounts
o E-mail accounts are mailboxes for you and anyone else whom you want to give e-mail at your domain name. Once a user mailbox/account is set up, you can create as many forwarding addresses (aliases) as you want to go to that address. Learn More
* 3 Included Web sites
o This is the default Web site limit for your hosting account. Some plans allow for an unlimited number of Web sites while others allow multiple Web sites with a default limit. For limited accounts capable of supporting multiple Web sites, you can add an additional at any time for a $10 one-time fee (per Web site). Learn More
* WestHost VPS Hosting Technology
o Most Web Hosting companies offer "VIRTUAL" or "SHARED" hosting. This means you literally share your resources, applications and environment with potentially hundreds of other users in the same directory. With WestHost Virtual Private Server (VPS Hosting) technology, a web server is divided into multiple isolated environments, offering independent server software, increased security, and much more control over your Web site. Learn More
* Dedicated IP (Optional)
o With most web hosts, one IP address is assigned to several domains and access to a domain is available only by its domain name. With WestHost, your Web site can have a unique and dedicated IP address. It is required for Anonymous FTP, private SSL certificates and certain applications. Learn More

Domain Management

* Multiple Web site Support
o With a WestHost Virtual Private Server (VPS) you have the ability to host multiple Web sites within your hosting account. You can point multiple domains to the same Web site or point domains to separate Web sites within your web space. Learn More
* 3 Included Web sites
o This is the default web site limit for your hosting account. If your plan supports Multiple Web sites, you can increase the web site limit of your account at any time for a $10 one-time fee (per web site). Learn More
* Unlimited Subdomains
o With Subdomain support, you can place a word or phrase in place of the standard "www" (subdomain.domain.com) and redirect all requests for that URL to a different directory within your Web site. Learn More
* DNS Records & Web Aliases
o All WestHost clients can take advantage of WestHost's powerful domain management services for web aliases, DNS headers, DNS records, and more. Learn More

Site Management

* Control Panel (Site Manager)
o Each web hosting account is managed with an online control panel (Site Manager). It allows setup and administration of e-mail / FTP user accounts, your own DNS, real-time statistics, web applications, and gives complete control over your web server, e-mail server, and ftp server settings. Learn More
* Site Builder (Web site Creator)
o Want to build a professional Web site without hiring a web designer? Our site builder (Web site Creator) allows you to create a presence online using only a web browser and Internet access. Learn More
* Content Management CMS (Joomla!)
o Joomla is one of the most powerful Content Management Systems (CMS) on the planet. It can empower anything from a personal Web site to a large business portal, combining blogging, news feeds, polls, link management, forums, and more. Learn More
* Blogging Application (WordPress)
o Blogging is extremely popular these days as it is offers a simple means of posting and managing Web site content. With WordPress, you have the most popular and (arguably) powerful blogging application available. Learn More
* Forum/Bulletin Board (phpBB)
o phpBB is the world's leading Open Source flat style discussion forum (message board) application. It can integrate into any existing Web site, or be the Web site in and of itself. Learn More
* Wiki Application (Media Wiki)
o MediaWiki is an easy to use software Wiki package, originally written for use with Wikipedia. MediaWiki allows you to create your own Wiki.
* Guestbook
o With a guestbook, visitors to your site can post comments, or read those posted by others. Learn More
* Site Search Engine
o Perlfect Search is a sophisticated, powerful, versatile, customizable and effective site indexing/searching suite. Once installed, and your site indexed, your visitors can quickly find the information they need. Learn More
* Microsoft FrontPage Support
o FrontPage is an extremely popular web publishing application created for non-programmers. WestHost supports the use of FrontPage 2003, 2002, 2000, 98 and 97. Learn More
* File Manager
o WestHost's File Manager allows access to all your Web site files. You can navigate through directories as you would your own computer. Once in a particular directory, you can upload files, edit files, create new files and folders, download/view files, search, and more. For the advanced user, there is the ability to execute shell commands. Learn More
* IP Filtering Utility
o Use this utility to limit access to your site by filtering a single IP or a block of IP addresses. This can be a great utility, for blocking or allowing select individuals or entire countries to your Web site. Learn More
* SSH (Secure Shell)
o Secure Shell (SSH), sometimes known as Secure Socket Shell, is a UNIX-based command interface and protocol for securely getting access to a remote computer. It is widely used by network administrators to control Web and other kinds of servers remotely. Learn More
* Cron Jobs
o Cron is the ability to run programs based on the server's clock. A cron job is a scheduled task that you want to automatically run at a scheduled time, e.g. automatically back up your Web site at 7:30pm each day. Learn More
* Apache Watchdog
o Our system utilizes a unique "watchdog" system. This system checks the web service on every WestHost Virtual Private Server on our network every 30 seconds and restarts it if it's down. If the web service cannot be restarted, an e-mail is sent to you and our network engineers are immediately notified. Learn More
* Apache Error Messages
o This application will allow you to display a response of your choice as an alternative to conventional error messages such as: "404 Not Found". You can choose to display either a custom text message or a select web page. Learn More

Statistics

* AWStats
o AWStats is a powerful, feature-rich statistical tool that generates advanced reports on visitor traffic and web server statistics. Learn More
* Counter
o The Counter Site Application keeps track of the number of 'hits' to your web pages and displays them to visitors. You can choose from a few different display types.

Site Promotion

* Search Engine Tools
o Dominate the web's leading search engines with our tools. Optimize and submit your site instantly. Track your results, make modifications and control top keyword positions. Learn More

Media

* Photo Album Application (Gallery)
o Gallery 2.0 is the next generation of photo and movie sharing web applications, giving you an intuitive way to blend photo management and photo printing seamlessly into your own Web site. Upload your photos, edit them, and create slideshows with comments, polls, statistics, and more. Learn More
* ImageMagick
o ImageMagick is a free software suite to create, edit, and compose bitmap images. Images can be cropped, rotated, colors can be changed, various effects can be applied, and more. Learn More
* Darwin Streaming Server
o Darwin Streaming Server is the technology that allows you to stream QuickTime media files on your Web site using the industry standard RTP and RTSP protocols. It was developed as an open source version of the popular QuickTime Streaming Server. This application requires a dedicated IP address. Learn More

[nostatic]

Joe, I'm with westhost now. We resolved the problem after an hour on the phone. Can you forward me your email? I'm at 15gig and 200gig. Have been with them for 10 years or so. They owe me...

[Joeaksa]

E-mail / FTP Management

* 50 E-mail / FTP Accounts
o E-mail accounts are mailboxes for you and anyone else whom you want to give e-mail at your domain name. Once a user mailbox/account is set up, you can create as many forwarding addresses (aliases) as you want to go to that address. Learn More
* Unlimited Forwarding & Aliasing
o E-mail Aliases are forwarding rules for your e-mail. You create an e-mail address and decide to forward mail sent there to one or more specified e-mail addresses, e.g. forward mail sent to sales@abc.com over to joe@abc.com and mike@xyz.net. Learn More
* Web Based E-mail (RoundCube)
o Webmail is a secure web application that allows you to view e-mail stored on a mail server (rather than downloading it). You can access your e-mail directly from a web browser anywhere in the world. Some popular examples of other webmail applications are Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, but at WestHost, you'll use your own domain name. Learn More
* Spam Protection
o SpamAssassin is a popular SPAM filtering program that uses a set of rules to determine if incoming e-mail is potentially SPAM. It uses a scoring system to add or subtract points based on conditions that match certain rules, and, if enough points are recorded, marks it as SPAM. Learn More
* IMAP/POP3 Protocols
o WestHost offers both IMAP and POP3 e-mail protocols for accessing your e-mail. This ensures the greatest level of compatibility with your preferred e-mail client/program.
* Autoresponders
o Once set up, WestHost's autoresponder automatically returns a prewritten message to anyone who submits e-mail to a particular Internet address. Learn More
* Mail List Manager
o The application Dada Mail is an intuitive, web-based e-mail list management system allowing automatic subscription management by the mailing list recipient. Learn More
* Formmail
o This application allows you to make an interactive form on your site where users can submit various information into fields, which will in turn be e-mailed to you. Learn More
* Anonymous FTP
o With Anonymous FTP you can specify a directory of your web space that anyone can access to download or upload files. This application requires a dedicated IP address. Learn More

Security

* Shared SSL
o Those that do not wish to purchase their own SSL Certificate for 128bit SSL data encryption, server authentication and message integrity, can share ours for free by installing this application. Learn More
* OpenSSL
o OpenSSL is a required application for those that wish to use their own SSL certificate issued from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). This application requires a dedicated IP address. Learn More
* Password Protect Directories
o With WebPassword you can create and manage shared web directories with password protection.

Development

* CGI-BIN
o The CGI-BIN is a directory on the server where the executable CGI scripts reside. You have complete control over your CGI-BIN and can install any custom or 3rd party CGI scripts that you would like.
* Perl
o Perl is a server-side scripting language which is commonly used to write CGI programs. If installing your own applications, it is often a required that your server supports Perl. Learn More
* PHP
o PHP is a server-side scripting language where the PHP commands are embedded in the webpage's HTML. Many web applications require PHP. Learn More
* Ruby on Rails
o Ruby on Rails is an open-source web framework that is optimized for programmer happiness and sustainable productivity. Learn More
* FastCGI
o FastCGI is a language independent, scalable, open extension to CGI that provides high performance without the limitation of server specific APIs. Learn More
* eAccelerator
o eAccelerator increases performance of PHP scripts by caching them in compiled state, so that the overhead of compiling is almost completely eliminated.
* Python
o A popular server side scripting language, Python is used in many situations where a great deal of dynamism, ease of use, power, and flexibility are required. Learn More
* GNU Compiler Collection (C, C++)
o A set of development tools that allow users to compile, link and install programs and utilities. Learn More
* Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
o The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is the minimum standard Java Platform for running Java programs. Learn More
* Macromedia Flash/Shockwave Support
o Flash and Shockwave are multimedia technologies developed by Adobe/Macromedia to allow a lot of Web site interactivity (graphics, animation, video) to fit in a relatively small file size. Learn More
* Server Side Includes (SSI)
o SSI (abbreviation for "Server-Side Includes") is a server-side scripting language. Common uses of SSI are to include or populate common areas of your Web site (e.g. a header or footer) from a single file. This way, you make the change to one file, and your entire site changes. Learn More

Database

* Unlimited MySQL Databases
o MySQL is a popular Open Source Software relational database management system which uses a subset of ANSI SQL (Structured Query Language). Learn More
* phpMyAdmin
o phpMyAdmin is an application written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL databases directly from a web browser. Learn More

Support

* 24/7 REAL Support
o At WestHost, we know that web hosting is much more than price, space, and bandwidth. This is why we offer a level of 24/7 support and response times via toll-free phone, live chat, and e-mail that are unmatched in this industry. Learn More

Server Specs

* Click for Details
o - Red Hat ES Linux 4 OS w/Apache 2
- Gigabit Ethernet
- Daily Backups

RAID

* Click for Details
o All WestHost servers are configured with RAID functionality for data redundancy.

Pricing

* Hosting Fees

[Joeaksa]

Todd,

https://corp2.westhost.com/big10ec/

This is the link that gave me the upgrade.

Joe

PS, this link or email is only 5 days old, so should be current.

[911Rob]

Todd,
I've been using www.godaddy.com for many years.
Great service, no troubles, and there's always someone to talk to when you need a little help.
Easy to check them out, just browse their website.
Hope it helps?

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Todd,

https://corp2.westhost.com/big10ec/

This is the link that gave me the upgrade.

Joe

I am not eligible. I'm a loser...a Patriot if you will (to make Mule happy).

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I am not eligible. I'm a loser...a Patriot if you will (to make Mule happy).

I would call them back and complain and try to get included in on the group, especially with the problems you have been having.

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Watch them. They are resellers. They do not own the hardware nor do they have physical access to it.

Hmm. Do you have a better place to recommend? What's the downside with them?

[id10t]

I pay $20/mo for a linode at www.linode.com. I choose what distro gets loaded (Debian for me...) and have full control - root access, create users, etc. When I did some work for Jim C. he got set up on one as well for his stuff (it looked like he'd need the extra disk space and bandwidth instead of riding on mine). I run 2 IPs on the box, so I do my own primary and secondary DNS (a buddy has 3rd level DNS for me as well), I can run mail, imap, pop3, webmail, anything I darn well want. It is the same as having a co-located server, without the $$$$$ and hardware...

Also, I've been upgraded quite a few times over the past 3 years - more RAM, more CPU, more disk, more bandwidth. Only downside is to get more disk or RAM you have to reboot the machine...