Thinking of changing web host

[devdog]

Hi

I am looking for advice on web hosting. Currently have 2 domains with some webspace that supports ASP plus mail forwarding. Very little traffic on the website mostly there for development testing purposes.

Looking for same + possibility of ASP.Net support in future.

Any ideas as I am getting hassled by my son who probably rightly thinks I am paying way too much at the moment. I also need somewhere that will handle the changeover smoothly as the email part of the equation is the important one, Idon't want to be out of contact with customer for long.

Cheers
Jim

[Muncher]

Devdog, you've got mail.

[murph7355]

I've just switched over to www.ixwebhosting.com.

Only been with them a month, but the service seems very good at the moment, and I think it's very good value for what you get...

Lots of nice tools to help you manage your domains too.

[JamieBeeston]

With UK Based hosting so cheap now, why forgo all the obvious (and subtle) benefits by giving your money to Americans?

I know of some good UK ASP.Net hosts, one of which has already replied to your thread.

[devdog]

Thanks for all your replies ... I am now in the preliminary stage of negotiations with the Muncher Empire reaches for tin hat and dustbin lid ... now where did I put that contract

Jim

[pmanson]

Try www.xsession.com

[JamieBeeston]

devdog said:

Thanks for all your replies ... I am now in the preliminary stage of negotiations with the Muncher Empire reaches for tin hat and dustbin lid ... now where did I put that contract Jim

I hear he has a stunning Network and Fleet of Servers

[jodypress]

murph7355 said:

I've just switched over to www.ixwebhosting.com. Only been with them a month, but the service seems very good at the moment, and I think it's very good value for what you get... Lots of nice tools to help you manage your domains too.

i second this company, have been with them for about 6 months. excellent service and if your site/email is ever down, they compensate you with an extra month of hosting. the best customer service i have had, and great to be able to talk to someone on the phone (all be it at EST)

[JamieBeeston]

jodypress said:

and if your site/email is ever down, they compensate you with an extra month of hosting.

cant help but smile at that

J

[murph7355]

JamieBeeston said:

With UK Based hosting so cheap now, why forgo all the obvious (and subtle) benefits by giving your money to Americans?

I did an albeit brief search on the net and couldn't even get close price-wise with a UK based organisation. And the ease of use of the ixweb stuff has been exemplary.

I take your point on your comment further down the page, but if you're using this sort of service for personal sites or nothing mission critical, then this sort of recompense is better than the poke in the eye with a sharp stick that you get from most other firms.

The reason I moved provider is that a UK based firm deleted my mailboxes! Without asking, or sending a mail to the mailbox to double check that it wasn't in use (they obviously didn't check anything else as the mailbox was very active).

FTP access was also woefully slow and compromised by connection speed limits and the number of allowable connections.

If you can point me to a UK based provider that gives all the services ixweb provide (or similar providers), for the same money, then I will renew with them next year.

[JamieBeeston]

You wont find a decent UK supplier who can match US prices, it just cant happen.

The US Govt invested heavily in Fibre infrastructre for the Country, something our guys never did, as such bandwidth is double / tripple the the price for a supplier here, as it is inn the states.

Its not like jeans, or clothes that you can 'grey import' either

The upside of USA is simply cost, the downside is Service, Response times (USA --> UK typically takes 50-100x the length of time as UK --> UK), lack of personal access, and lack of Customer Support.

There is also an image thing, clients know the only reason you are hosting in the US is to skimp on costs.. and this has negative connetations!

Your UK providers actions are disgusting! but thats just one provider.

I happily accept your point about 'its ok for the bottom of the market', and its 100% true. If you dont need the image or service associated with a UK host, then go US. makes far more sense.

As for you renewing in the UK, only do it if it makes sense for you, not for costs, as costs will never be better here.

If you are after some specific advise, feel free to drop me a mail.

always happy to discuss the industry

J

[Muncher]

murph7355 said:

If you can point me to a UK based provider that gives all the services ixweb provide (or similar providers), for the same money, then I will renew with them next year.

I've had a look around their site and although you may have had a good experience, they are offering things they simply cannotdeliver.

iws said said:

5 free domain registrations, full MSSQL / ASP / CF / Access support and up to 15 domains with UNLIMITED disk space for peace of mind.

Right, so that'll be on one of those unlimited size hard disks then?

Their data transfer is also rubbish for a US host and from the images on the site they are using normal desktop PCs piled in a warehouse rather than proper rackmounted units.

iws said:

Make: Dell PowerEdge 2650 Processors: DUAL Intel Xeon 2.8GHz, 512K Cache Technology: HyperThreading, 533MHz Front Side Bus Memory: 6.0GB DDR at 266MHz Frequency Redundant AC Power: 2x500 Watt Power Supplies Hard Drives: 5x146GB 10K RPM Ultra 320 SCSI Total Capacity: 730GB working redundant via RAID5 Networking: Intel Pro 1000MT Dual Port Gigabit

Why the need to show off a fancy box? That matters not when that will be shared with thousands of other users!

[murph7355]

Sensible advice J.

Note that I also spend a good bit of time out of the country, so response times count for little within the UK. Also, service has been excellent - web chat 24hrs a day for support if needed. The US are learning how to do this stuff at the same rate that the UK seem to be forgetting (point taken about anecdotal evidence, but I've had problems with 4 UK providers - it could, of course, be me ).

In terms of kudos of host, I'm not sure clients really care as long as your site's available and fast enough...does anyone really check who hosts your domain?

[JamieBeeston]

murph7355 said:

In terms of kudos of host, I'm not sure clients really care as long as your site's available and fast enough...does anyone really check who hosts your domain?

Depends on the client I suppose.

I have a US customer who flew over specially last week, they have their own Datacentre in the States, but are looking to splash £1.6m on EU/UK Hosting.

We convinced them that it would be better to let us take all the headaches off their hands, as well as saving them a chunk of cash..

They have their own DC over there, but still wanted one here..

bottom line, there is only ONE benefit of UK over US.

$£$£$£$£ Cost.

but there are a whole array of headaches associated with your servers being thousands of miles, and several time zones away.


For home users, its not important, for business it is.

Having said that, I try and offer as close to US in the UK as I can.

click on my banner top right, 100% UK, but approaching US levels of Traffic...

I think we are talking cross purposes in the big picture here.. If you were a PLC / Corp, serving UK and EU, you wouldnt even contemplate the US for hosting, but for a home user... it certainly makes more sense.