Web host and server recommendation for starter

[Rocky1981]

Hi all,
Anyone of you have any good and stable hosting site to recommend for a start off?

Currently I have 2 web host and plan in mind;

1) The Base-Host plan from Hostican.com >> http://www.hostican.com/hosting/shared-hosting.php

2) The Hatchling plan from HostGator.com >> http://www.hostgator.com/shared.shtml


Q1) Which one of the plan do you all think is better? I mean I think both the plan are more or less similar.

Q2) Are this kind of cheap plan mentioned good enough or recommended for starter like me to start a new forum soon?

Q3) How many estimated users do you think either of this 2 plan can handle?

Q4) I have seen alot of people talking about HostGator, but what about Hostican? Any feedback or comments on Hostican? On their services/plans/server performance etc...


Any advice or recommendation from personal experience?


Thanks & Regards

[GHST]

you should probably get in touch with both of these service providers and ask them how your forum will function on their site. How much load the site can take (current connections to the database, etc)

There is no right plan, only what is right for you. IF you don't see your site growing into something huge, then shared hosting is fine. But large sites will get you into trouble with shared hosting providers.

[F0xy]

I've been involved with vbulletin for some time now and only one hosting company has "done exactly what it says on the tin" http://urljet.com is not only good for beginners with installs, help etc but its great for advanced boards for VPS and dedicated. The support, well its too bloody good, it is literary answered within minutes!! I hate having to "big up" hosting companies but the support and help from these guys has been second to none that i felt you needed to have the service i'm getting.

jump on to the live support on there site and ask them which package would suit you best and they will be honest and let you know.

10 out of 10 and charge by paypal as well.

[Rocky1981]

you should probably get in touch with both of these service providers and ask them how your forum will function on their site. How much load the site can take (current connections to the database, etc)

There is no right plan, only what is right for you. IF you don't see your site growing into something huge, then shared hosting is fine. But large sites will get you into trouble with shared hosting providers.

Hi GHST,
Thanks for your advice. I have contacted Hostican and they advice me to have a dedicated hosting plan where the CSO commented that vBulletin boards is a heavy applications that required dedicated resources. But I don't think it is possible for a starter like me to subscribe to a dedicated hosting plan yet as I do not know how well will my forum do. So I only can subscribe to a basic cheaper plan first to test and try things out.

[Rocky1981]

I've been involved with vbulletin for some time now and only one hosting company has "done exactly what it says on the tin" http://urljet.com is not only good for beginners with installs, help etc but its great for advanced boards for VPS and dedicated. The support, well its too bloody good, it is literary answered within minutes!! I hate having to "big up" hosting companies but the support and help from these guys has been second to none that i felt you needed to have the service i'm getting.

jump on to the live support on there site and ask them which package would suit you best and they will be honest and let you know.

10 out of 10 and charge by paypal as well.

Hi F0xy,
Thanks for the info. I will take a look at the site and decide.

[Rocky1981]

Hi all,
Anyone has anymore advice, personal experience and recommendations?

Thanks

[gigapros]

I have contacted Hostican and they advice me to have a dedicated hosting plan
Wow....if that's what they really advised you for a starter forum, then you seriously need to look elsewhere. Just my 2 cents.

[bigwater]

You can probably get by with any of the cheap unlimited offers for the duration of your setup and configuration, and might get through a couple of months of actual users logging in and participating before you have to get serious. I keep several of the "almost free" accounts around just for the very purpose of configuration and setup

Once you start getting any significant traffic though, you're going to have to look at spending some money, either on a shared hosting plan that caps the limits and doesn't oversell, then eventually a vps, or straight to a dedicated server depending on the the success of your offering.

I'm not going to recommend anybody, because I'm not here to sell my servers, and I'm not about to mention anybody else :) But I'm sure there will be other's that will give you good advise. Just watch out for the sites that offer the world for nothing. None of them are for real.

[glennybee]

I can fully recommend Hostgator. I was with them for the first 8 months of my forums life. I do not have a bad word to say about them. Very professional and was quick to answer any question I had. And they always have a 'Live Chat' operator on call.

[Shaheen]

I am a URLJET Client as well from past 6 months and i am very happy with them.They take care of my forum very well .I tried most of other hosting companies but they are only good for websites not for vbulletin forum.URLJET are the best for vbulletin forums.I will recommend URLJET.

[Rocky1981]

Wow....if that's what they really advised you for a starter forum, then you seriously need to look elsewhere. Just my 2 cents.

Yeah thats what I thought too as I want to test and try things out first before throwing too much money on higher end hosting plans. Anyway, saw your siggy and your site is also one of my consideration. :)

[Rocky1981]

You can probably get by with any of the cheap unlimited offers for the duration of your setup and configuration, and might get through a couple of months of actual users logging in and participating before you have to get serious. I keep several of the "almost free" accounts around just for the very purpose of configuration and setup

Once you start getting any significant traffic though, you're going to have to look at spending some money, either on a shared hosting plan that caps the limits and doesn't oversell, then eventually a vps, or straight to a dedicated server depending on the the success of your offering.

I'm not going to recommend anybody, because I'm not here to sell my servers, and I'm not about to mention anybody else :) But I'm sure there will be other's that will give you good advise. Just watch out for the sites that offer the world for nothing. None of them are for real.

Yeah thats what I'm deciding; to start off with a shared hosting plan to test and try things out first. Thanks for the advice. :)

[Rocky1981]

I can fully recommend Hostgator. I was with them for the first 8 months of my forums life. I do not have a bad word to say about them. Very professional and was quick to answer any question I had. And they always have a 'Live Chat' operator on call.

HostGator is also in one of my consideration list. Their dedicated hosting plans is awesome, but now I'm looking into the shared hosting plans first. Thanks for your recommendation. :)

[Rocky1981]

I am a URLJET Client as well from past 6 months and i am very happy with them.They take care of my forum very well .I tried most of other hosting companies but they are only good for websites not for vbulletin forum.URLJET are the best for vbulletin forums.I will recommend URLJET.

I've saw their plans, sort of much more expensive than others. Maybe when my forum grows I might take them into one of my consideration list for higher end hosting plans. Thanks for the recommendation. :)

[Rocky1981]

Ok all, I think I've made up my mind to try out a shared hosting plan to start off with. Now the problem for me is only to choose which hosting site/company. Thanks so much for all the advice and recommendations shared, really appreciate them, cheers. :D

[gigapros]

Ok all, I think I've made up my mind to try out a shared hosting plan to start off with.
That's good news. You are done with one parameter now. :)