Urgent need of reliable and feature-rich web host

patwa_2

Hi.

I have received a notice from 1&! to say that my 3-year trial period of their Professional hosting package will expire on Wednesday - yes not much notice but oh well. I only got into this deal because my cousin State-side agreed to register for me.

I'm not sure what happens on Wednesday, whether my account just becomes unuseable or what, but I need to find a replacement host ASAP.

1&1 are charging $39 a month, which is $468 (about £230) a year. This is too much for a package where I'm not even using half of the features.

I'm looking for a host, dfirst and foremost is reliability. I need something that I can just leave, safe in the knowledge that it's not going to go bust every few days. then of course is price.

Here's a list of the features I require:
Space: I currently use about 500MB
Bandwidth: It's a small site, not many visitors but this may change, let's say 1GB to be flexible
Domain parking: I have my own domain name which I need to be able t point to nameservers with the webhost
E-mail: Definitely
Addresses: I have 5 at the moment
Subdomains: Haven't really used them
IMAP: Yes, I do need that over POP
PHP/MySQL: Definitely, I have forum software which uses the database
FTP: One account is fine, more are great
Secured Directories: Yes, I'll need them later
Customized Error Pages: Yes
Advertising: NO, NO and NO!
Search Engine Submission: OK, but I could do it myself

Additional features that would be good but are not mandatory are Ruby and provided E-Commerce applications but again I could build the apps myself. I'm studying Ruby so it would be nice to be able to put it into practice but not vital.

As for cost, I'm prepared to look at features and pay accordingly, but cheaper is better.

If anyone can help please I'd be very grateful. I would need to be set up by Wednesday. Also, I know some members here do their own hosting - please understand it's not a slight against you but if you can't guarantee industrial-standard reliability then I can't take that risk. Also, have gone with 'individual' hosts in the past only to be messed around and hung up on when it mattered most.

I'm prepared to go for an international host, I can pay by CC just as long as they're meeting the requested criteria.

Thanks.

patwa_2

Thanks, and I'll take a look, however much as I'd love to abandon my website for a while, it has it's uses and will form a key role in plans for making money - however, I could also survive if there's a free host that allows domain parking but which offers even some of the features described in the original post - PHP/MySQL and FTP are a must though as is e-mail.

Ashok_2

https://www.hostgator.com - I use them on the semi-dedicated package. Their support is EXCELLENT, will reply within minutes usually, and have live support up 24/7, they are one of the more established hosts and they won't let you down.

patwa_2

Awww, now you've got me confused about which to go for, they both seem to have the same thing, I need to see what starlogic has that this doesn't. What immediately jumps out at me is that Starlogic don't have openly declared ruby and IMAP support. Also, what's the usual turnaround time for webhosts from account application to servers being ready for access? Obviously, the domain name won't work right away, I know there is an up to 24 hour delay whilst the nameservers are appropriated. that's OK, but how long until I can use the new host - on average?

patwa_2

Hi, I received the following answer from StartLogic:

1. IMAP E-mail
2. Ruby/Rails support
Ans : We do not support IMAP and Ruby/Rails.

Oh well, there are other hosts out there.

patwa_2

Hi. I just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation for Hostgator. I signed up about 40 minutes ago, and already I have the details for my site and have access to it, and have got the nameservers set to transfer from 1&1. so far, I'm very impressed with the speed of this host's customer service, and am looking forward to using them.