Here I am again looking for a web host. This time it's different though as I'm willing to pay for a site (and domain). Key things I need are:

PHP/MySQL
~ 250MB+ space
Unlimited Bandwidth ~ 50GB/mo Bandwidth
Reliable hosting - I don't want my site down half the time.


I've done the bulk of the site on a free webspace but the bandwidth is at around 95% for this month, so no doubt it will be on and offline - And this is before I've given many people the link.

So does anyone know of good hosts?

Offhand, I know these:

http://www.ixwebhosting.com/
http://dreamhost.com/

My site, thecybershadow.net (web space and domain) are hosted by GoDaddy.

They offer enough raw resources:
--- thecybershadow.net details ---
Disk Space: 249.00 MB of 5000.00 MB
Bandwidth: 348.73 MB of 250000.00 MB

However, their control panel isn't very powerful, and FTP access is a bit too restricted (the server periodically kicks you off for no good reason, even while you're uploading). On the other hand, they allow Apache .htaccess files and your very own php.ini, so if you know how to use these, you're still in control.

I transferred my domain to freedns.afraid.org, and the only downtime I ever got (website or domain) was when FreeDNS was under attack for a few days. Moving my domain allowed me to have home.thecybershadow.net which points to a different IP, and even gets updated every few hours to my real home IP.

They don't have online tech support either (only by phone), but every problem I had I figured out eventually.

The prices are pretty good. I can get you a 10% discount, too.

I was recommended this provider by someone whom I consider knowledgeable.

Didn't realise everything was so high these days... I guess I won't need unlimited bandwidth.

So I guess I'm just looking for a basic host plan - I'm not expecting the site to be very busy, I just need it to be up all the time.

Thanks for the discount offer. I'll keep my options open over the next few weeks and then hopefully decide on something.

When I bought kentosh.com I got it through exabytes.com

$4.87 a month or so for 5GB space, 50GB bandwidth, and varius other stuffs. (the listed $3.65/month is for just the space - the domain is an additional $15 a year)

I got fed up with my host so set up my own server, I think i have unlimited bandwidth but ver limited speeds as its only a 2Mb connection. Once I get a better connection I should be ok for hosting sites that arn't mine.

www.nearlyfreespeech.net. Pay as you go, no limits, and worth it if you don't get a great deal of traffic. It's Gelatinous.net (http://www.gelatinous.net)'s weapon of choice.

www.nearlyfreespeech.net. Pay as you go, no limits, and worth it if you don't get a great deal of traffic. It's Gelatinous.net's weapon of choice.

If you are doing anything CGI-related, do consider NearlyFreeSpeech. They have a very wide variety: http://example.nfshost.com/versions.php

edit: it's also very reliable (they apologize profusely in emails for even the shortest about of downtime), and the speed is pretty fast. if you have the slightest problem tech support is lightning fast and very patient (I kept emailing them about this really obvious problem that I couldn't seem to figure out)

Sounds promising:)

I use these guys:
http://www.ukhost4u.com/
All packages come with free domain name of your choice, cPanel (the best control panel there is, basically), unlimited email accounts, unlimited SQL databases, unlimited subdomains, unlimited FTP accounts, and support for just about every feature you need (PHP, MySQL, JSP, SSI, Perl, plus a load of software installable from cPanel such as phpBB). If you go for them, choose a Linux hosting package.

Basic package works out at £3.33 a month if you pay for the year, and you won't need more than 1GB space unless you plan on hosting lots of audio/video. The only difference between the first three packages (basic, advanced, business) is the space, bandwidth, and number of seperate domains you can host on it.

I used to have a Business Hosting package, but my boss pays for a dedicated server for me now, which is wicked. I can literally SSH login to the server, and do whatever i like. I installed game servers for Counterstrike: Source, Enemy Territory, and Half Life the other week :D.

I chose the same as Zogger, http://www.surpasshosting.com - $65/year for 200GB/month bandwidth and 5GB space. I got the domain seperately from http://www.godaddy.com

www.nearlyfreespeech.net. Pay as you go, no limits, and worth it if you don't get a great deal of traffic. It's Gelatinous.net (http://www.gelatinous.net)'s weapon of choice.

$1 per gigabyte of bandwidth is very expensive when compared to most plans that give you 50GB a month.

When I bought kentosh.com I got it through exabytes.com

$4.87 a month or so for 5GB space, 50GB bandwidth, and varius other stuffs. (the listed $3.65/month is for just the space - the domain is an additional $15 a year)

Looks like the best price in this thread so far.

http://www.hosting-unlimited.net - excellent support and features, no downtime
http://www.fasthosts.co.uk - apparently good deals, especially on dedi servers. Long established

Looks like the best price in this thread so far.It will all depend on my usage. I doubt my bandwidth will be high but I need something bigger... I always go over the top. It's gone from about 86% 3 days ago to 99.14% earlier today after I added a php program to the site and I've been fiddling around with the settings etc. I'm pretty sure almost all of the 86% was bots on the site though... there are no big images, the biggest is 34KB and each page is roughly 5KB. Coupled with the fact that the counter has only just topped 100, it would make no sense otherwise. Despite this, if I can use 13% bandwidth in 3 days then I need a new host. I think I'm very unlikely to top 2GB bandwidth per month. As for the size of my site... at the moment it's about 11.52MB so that's nothing.

I think it my case it would be far better to choose NearlyFreeSpeech as it will probably minimise the cost of the site because it is small and has a low bandwidth.

(all prices are per month)
The cost of bandwidth will probably be around $1.5.
At the moment the size of my site would cost me $0.12. While the site will expand, it's not going to get substantially bigger. It's unlikely to reach $0.50 in the near future.
The domain is $0.63.
If I choose to, the privacy thing is about $0.30

All of that (using $0.50 as the price of the size of my site too) comes to $2.93 per month, which is £1.55 per month.

To be honest I think I'm sold on NearlyFreeSpeech... I just have to wait for my new card to come in the post so I can set up a PayPal account to start the ball rolling.

Indeed. It does sound excellent for smaller sites.