Need recommendations for new hosting package...

tim

tim

Senior Member
anyone know of one?

I seem to have hit a wall with my current host, 3ix. Their email server is always down, which doesn't exactly set a great image for my clients when I can't email them back.

Any recommendations at all?

Prices?

I need quite good hosting too. Able to:

  • Hold 5 or more domains
  • MySql (obvs)
  • Latest PHP, blah blah blah
  • 50 FTP logins
  • 50 or more email accounts
... you know... the usual TBH.


P.S ... sorry for the sporadic thread, I'm not great with words today.
 
I use dream-hosting.co.uk, dunno if they're any good for your requirments. Never had any problems with them.
 
media temple is a good one and offers a very cheap service with large amounts of space you can use for multiple domains so can offer your own hosting, has php sql and all that jazz also a easy to use back end for setting everything up. The only downside is that you can't use it to purchase .co.uk addresses only .com etc but you can purchase your .co.uk urls somewhere else like 123reg and transfer them over...
 
Media Temple are an excellent company and have been around for years. Very solid platform indeed.

However, the servers are located in the US so if you are promoting a UK domain hosted with them, your UK searches on Google will be seriously affected.
 
I used to use a US based host, who were pretty good and very cheap, but when there was a problem I was stuck waiting for support tickets to be picked up due to the time difference. As well as the SEO issue Phil pointed out above, a UK based host should help with your UK based SEO.

Recently moved to a UK host, and so far, so good (I'm with Openmind Hosting, I know Phil from various business forums I've used over the years and his company has an excellent reputation) Design Forums are hosted on my account with Openmind too :D
 
openmind said:
However, the servers are located in the US so if you are promoting a UK domain hosted with them, your UK searches on Google will be seriously affected.
Click to expand...


For top-level domains *tld* (e.g. .com, .co.uk, .fr, .ru etc)

The SEO issue is nagated now. There is no reason other than support times why you shouldn't choose a US host like media Temple / Dream Host, In fact I would go as far as to say there is a conspiracy within the UK isp/hosting industry where this information is being kept very quiet in order to offer more expensive hosting services. I digress,

for non specific tld like .org, .me, .mobi then the hosting server ip address may be taken into account however the importance/ serps (serach engine result positions) is placed on the content of the site if the content is mixed and no obvious country specifi audiance is indentified then the ip address of the hosting server is taken into account more so.

Additionally, Google also offers in such cases where you don't have a country specific tld the ability to geo-target your audience via its webmaster tools. So again you can host in a different country to what your content is targeted for and also enjoy country specific serps.

As for the other search engines out their, it would make sense to follow suit, as after-all the net is a global market for both services and products.

Tim-ater, if you choose to go with Dreamhost.org speak to me first as I can get you a discount on your hosting package.

Regards

me.
 
Sunburn said:
For top-level domains *tld* (e.g. .com, .co.uk, .fr, .ru etc)

The SEO issue is nagated now.
Click to expand...
Sorry but your mistaken. Many SEs including Google will use the IP location as a factor in the results. You will have a lower ranking with a UK domain if is hosted on a non-UK IP address.
There is no reason other than support times why you shouldn't choose a US host like media Temple / Dream Host,
Click to expand...
You will have a higher latency
A higher ping time
A slower rate of FTP transfer
Have to call an international number for support instead of a Local rate/free number.

The first three reasons are enough for most people as this directly affects the speed of your site and your management of the files. Granted the speeds are not massively different but you will notice even if your clients don't.
In fact I would go as far as to say there is a conspiracy within the UK isp/hosting industry where this information is being kept very quiet in order to offer more expensive hosting services. I digress,
Click to expand...
I could get very offended by that comment but I will just say that is utter tosh :)

Many of the hosts in the US and also in the UK belong to the pile them high, flog them cheap bracket overselling their resources for pennies. This results in over loaded servers and poor uptime.

If you honestly believe the UK hosting industry is part of a conspiracy then I'm concerned ;)

At the end of the day a choice of hosting company should never be made on price alone. I could easily save myself thousands of pounds per year by locating my servers in a cheaper data centre but would I want to risk my clients and sanity on a poor level of service?

As with any service, recommendations, customer service, facilities and support should be paramount before costs and location are even considered...

One final thought, If you feel this strongly about not hosting in the UK, why do you host your own site on a UK ISP? :)
 
Cheer for the reply openmind,

I agree with you that many search engines do use ip location as a factor in the results I never said they didnt, what i did say or what i tried to get across is that country specific hosting per tld is no longer as important to serps as it once was :)

Offical statement form google here
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Server location, cross-linking, and Web 2.0 technology thoughts

Does location of server matter? I use a .com domain but my content is for customers in the UK

In our understanding of web content, Google considers both the IP address and the top-level domain (e.g. .com, .co.uk). Because we attempt to serve geographically relevant content, we factor domains that have a regional significance. For example, ".co.uk " domains are likely very relevant for user queries originating from the UK. In the absence of a significant top-level domain, we often use the web server's IP address as an added hint in our understanding of content.
Click to expand...


As for the additional reasons, again they are negligible, majority of the UK market is now on broadband with a very small minority using dialup as a backup system, so the argument of ping times, latency and xfer speed are not really valid any more, and again is Joe user even aware of such terms, i doubt it.

As for the conspiracy hehe, it was ment in jest, however i do suspect the reasons uk customers choose uk hosting is out of ignorance rather than informed choice :)

Ultimately though i do agree with your parting statement that service, recommendations, customer service, facilities and support should be the deciding factor over price, but we are fortunate as we can see the arguments from a more technical viewpoint where as the typical Joe user can only see as far has his nose, or the depths of this wallet.

PS. Why i host in the uk? because i dont have to pay for it. :)
 
Good answers ;)

I think we will have to agree to disagree on some points at the risk of taking this thread down the "techy argument" road but I respect your opinions...
 
Interesting discussion guys, and I'm sure whilst it's going in a slightly different direction to the OP, it will be useful information :)
 
He asked for recommendations, and didn't specify location, so a relevant discussion I think, may even be something he hasn't considered, the advantages/disadvantages of the actual hosting location. I think I'm right in saying, the other thing to check with hosting companies is their actual physical server location, as it may well be different to their physical office location? (If looking for a UK host)
 
Hey Greg,

Yes, Datacenter location is also very important, typically you would wish for your datacenter to be located on the major backbones for the countrys telecom infrastructure / data networks rather than someone's bedroom server :)

Such datacentres as Telehouse and TeleCity Group Data Centres in London are a good example . Another important thing to consider when choosing a hosting provider is whether or not they own their infrastructure at as datacenters or whether or not the rent space from another provider. If there was hardware failure you would potential have to wait for your host to fix their hardware first before resolving yours :)

Here is a guide to UK backbones
uunet_uk_new.gif
 
I too am looking to switch to a new hosting provider, even though my existing provider is fantastic, I am wanting to trim down some of my costs.

I was just wondering if anyone here has used either Web Hosting, Reseller Hosting, and Dedicated Website Hosting w/ cPanel - HostGator or Site5 - Web Hosting and if so what your thoughts were.

I even though it wasn't mentioned in the original post, I am based in the US so the existing debate on server location applies a bit less for my situation.

Thanks!

And I would just like to say, in general, these forums have been a fantastic resource. So I am really appreciative to what you have going here.
 
Thanks for the advice, Leventhan, I will look into it.

Also, interesting thing to note, I posted a general query on Twitter to see if any followers had an opinion on HostGator, and it was interesting to have HostGator and several hosting services reply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top