I have finally registered my domain name (yee-hah!), and am now searching for someone to host it. I know who hosts pamie's page, but I'm looking for someone less expensive -- preferably free!

Doe anyone have recommendations for web hosting (not just free web space, but hosting my domain name) that's either free or not terribly expensive? I don't want to spend a ton of money until I'm sure I like this! I know there are a lot of other journallers, and various and sundry web-savvy people, who read pamie's page, so I thought this might be a good place to ask this question.

Thanks in advance for any help y'all can give me!

liz

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Answers

www.webmacster.com

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Communitech.Net

Might not be the cheapest, but they're good!

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

I use dreamhost, but that's not really the cheapest. it's $9.95 a month or something, but it's very good and simple to use!

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Check out HostSpot. They have a huge searchable database, and if you're looking for some place cheap, just set the search for the amount that you're willing to pay. :)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

What you should pay is really going to depend upon how much access and control you want/need, and how much space you want. I've seen places as low as $5/mo, for like 5 megs of space, ftp, and that's it. If you want to do a lot of scripting like forms, message boards, server side includes, etc, you're probably going to neet a host that provides telnet access as well.

I've been with olm.net for a year, and I've been very happy. They have various levels of hosting, ranging from $13.95/mo for something like 150 megs of space, multiple POP email accounts, ftp access, to hundreds of dollars for reseller accounts (I'm sure that's not what you want).

I'm paying for what they call the "starter" package which is $18.95/mo. I get *300 megs* of space and all the access and control I could possibly want.

(Note: I don't get any sort of kickback for promoting them. This is just how happy I've been with their service, after being with the Host from Hell.)

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2000

Hmmm... I would actually characterize olm.net as the "Host from Hell". Perhaps not the deepest levels, but they are down there. *Horrible* customer service and inexcusably meager documentation made for a very unpleasant relationship.

The thing is, there are so many hosts out there and so many people that it is likely you'll get a different suggestion from everyone who makes one. For instance, I use BurstNet. They aren't horrible, but they aren't perfect either.

You need to make a realistic determination of your bandwidth and usage needs. How many POP accounts do you want? Megabytes? How much bandwidth? Do you need Perl? SSI? Java Servlets? Web-based control? Frontpage Extensions? PHP? You need to find a host that is willing and able to grow with you.

Narrow your search down to a few that say they provide what you need and are in your price range. Then start seeing if what they claim about themselves is actually true; watch out for marketing hype.

Are they fast? Ping some of their clients and find out. Is tech support available when they say it is? Call/email at different times. Are their current clients happy? Email them and ask.

Sometimes you will see an announcement on provider's site that says "SALE ON [insert service here]!!! SALE ENDS [insert today's date] AT MIDNIGHT!!!" This is a common marketing ploy that they use in order to get you to sign up now without doing your research. A little script updates that with today's date each day. The sale never ends. Avoid these sites.

Most (but not all) sites that promise "UNLIMITED" anything are very likely going to screw you somehow with that claim. That is usually a claim of a lower quality service. Not always... but usually.

I doubt you will find a host that will give you web service and link it to your domain name for free. That is, a host that will provide the level of service required for hosting a named website will charge for that.

I have been with several hosting companies and most of them suck. The reason for this is that most people are technically unaware of what it means to have a good hosting service. They are happy with what they get because their lack of experience prepares them for nothing better.

Things to look for:

24 hr technical support through email and a toll-free number. ICQ support is also a plus. And make sure that the toll-free number isn't the "leave a message and we'll call you back" type. Also, check out response times to their support email by sending them general inquiries at different times (weekends, nights, lunch, etc.)

If you pay more than $30/month you are paying too much. This is true even if you are running a modest e-commerce site with 2000 hits per day. BurstNet provides a reasonable level of service around this price. Scale megabytes and bandwidth accordingly.

Extensive and intelligible on-line documentation. It should be viewable to you before you buy. If you see a lot of "Under Constructions", that is equivalent to not having any content at all. Avoid hosts like that. Would you eat at a restaurant where they were still building the tables, tiling the restrooms, and hiring the cooks? (Note: BurstNet does this and it *really* bugs me. Luckily, most of the docs that are UC are ones I don't need.)

Promised uptime of greater than 99%.

Fast connection. And it doesn't matter if they claim to be fast or have a dozen fiber backbones connected to every server: TEST IT. Try out their clients' sites and see what the response time is like.

There are a lot of sites out there that claim to be directories of web hosting services. They rate them and review them. Most of these suck, too, because they derive all of their money in ads from the same companies they list. Take their advice with a salt lick.

Hope that helps. Good luck. Please note that I did not always practice what I preach in selecting my own host, so going with BurstNet would not necessarily be the natural end-result of implementing my advice.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Dreamhost baby. 9.95/mo. Very good for newbies.

-Nae

----- http://www.QuietOnes.com

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Man, Jon, thanks so much for all the advice! I have to admit, though, that I am pretty much a newbie and have NO idea what some of the stuff you're talking about means! I've been online for 6 or 7 years now, but since I use AOL I really don't know what the heck is going on, because I haven't needed to. My only experience so far with building pages, etc., has been my free little silly page on iVillage, and reading HTML tutorials on the webk, that kind of thing. I don't know very much, if anything, about CGI, Perl, PHP, or much of anything else, i.e. how the whole darn thing works! I guess maybe I should buy a Dummies book or something so I can be a little better-educated! I also don't know at the moment exactly what I want my web page to be/do; it'll mostly be just personal stuff, movie and book reviews, maybe a journal, etc., but I'm sure as I learn more I will want to be able to do more, and add more to it.

Thanks to everyone else for their input so far. It's given me a lot to research.

Any more advice on where to go to learn more about this stuff, so I know what I need when I pick a host?

Thanks again and again!

liz

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

As it happens, I've written an article about this, with some recommendations:

Th e Host with the Most

Hope it helps!

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

www.simplenet.com

first of all, I use their subdomain not domain...

they cost a lot, very true. but! they have the most excellent costumer service! it's amazing. I send them an email on Monday noon and I get a reponse by Tuesday morning... and an accurate one. Even the silliest questions are answered, unlike normal webhosts who take between one week to one month to answer, and if they already do, its weird un-understandable answers.

So finally: Use Simplenet, They totally Rock.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

Wow, Jon, in over a year I've never had a serious problem with OLM.net. The few times something's come up, it's been handled by their 24hr tech support via email or phone.

The Host From Hell was a company that randomly dumped my logs, shut off scripts, "forgot" to register my second domain name, billed me months after I stopped hosting, and decided to set my Network Solutions security level to "encryption" without a) bothering to give me the key, and b) without bothering to tell me at all. I only found out after an attempt to change one of my domains to a new owner kept getting rejected.

For the record, that provider was hostserver.com. Don't bother trying to looking them up, because about 6 months ago they dropped off the face of the planet with no warning, destroying every site the hosted.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

I'm coming in on the side of OLM as well - they've been good to me. I've gotten reasonably prompt (within 24 hours) answers to my technical questions, and I'm perfectly happy with the speed and features they offer.

My only quibble is with their configuration utility for the features - mailing lists, email re-directs, and all the other goodies they provide.

They provide a "web-control" deal for all this stuff - you fill out a form, press submit, and magically, config files get created or changed and your new features come alive.

Contrary fool that I am, this annoys me. I want to be able to edit those config files myself. I don't want to use the web interface. All of their documentation is geared towards doing it the other way, though.

I'm definitely not in the newbie category, though - my whole site is scripted with Perl, creating pages on demand as people browse. You might well be perfectly happy with the web control interface, and you can always dig around in the config files if you get curious about what's really going on.

My site is IanTheTerrible.com, should you wish to scope it out.

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2000

i've just recently got a domain and hosting account from webaxxs.net, and i know mary (bitterfame) uses them too. my package is $15.95 a month, a little more than dreamhost, but that's for 400 megs, 10 pop3s + unlimited aliasing, SSI, php3, telnet access and full CGI type stuff. so far i haven't had any problems at all, they answered one tech support question i had within an hour, but, erm, yeah, they're worth checking out.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000