Ventures Online - Is There A Better Host?

[Mr L]

I am writing this on behalf of a fruit who runs http://www,poundrun.com forums as the license is in my name.

Today he recieved an email from Ventures Online saying that his site is too busy and they want him to move to a dedicated hosting package rather then a shared host.

He got the following quote...


Hello,

The VPS3000 package is $79.95/month, with a $49.00 setup fee. If you wish to use CPanel, there is an extra $10/month charge. Likewise, if you wish to use Plesk, there will be an extra $20/month charge for a 30 user license. Moving your site to the new server is $40/hour or $10/site (whichever is cheaper).

Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Ventures online.

...now I believe that this is taking the p*** since they want him to move sites and will charge setup fees and other such costs. I expect that I will do the transfer myself if the push comes to the shove.

However, can anybody here recommend another company that are on Par with Ventures Online, or is it as I suspect. They are probably one of the best?

Thanks.

[Floris]

Is the site too busy and does it pull more bandw/traffic then is provided in their offered package ?

[Mr L]

Is the site too busy and does it pull more bandw/traffic then is provided in their offered package ?

It's hit related. They say...


In it's attempt to process the number of hits received, most of the CPU and memory on the server are being allocated to serve this site. As a result, overall server performance is being impacted as well as the other customers on the server. Recent statistics show that poundrun.com received 1,684,856 hits over 30 days. Typically, a site becomes to busy for a shared virtual server when it exceeds 750,000 hits over 30 days.

We realize that most customers are not aware that their sites have become so busy and are impacting server performance, so we want to assist you as best we can in moving your site to a more appropriate solution. Based on the number of hits being received, we feel that a VPS3000 would be the best option for you. We would be happy to provide you with information or recommendations on our Virtual Private Server options.

...I use them for www.retrochat.com (http://www.retrochat.com) and personally, I don't remember reading in any T&C about you are restricted to 750K's worth of hits before they would ask you to move.

The site in question has roughly 20 people online at any one time.

[redbox]

They don't really restrict you to a number of hits before asking you to move. They use the number of hits as a generalization because most people want some sort of figures when looking at usage in terms of CPU, and being asked to move. At least that was my impression. There is a big thread somewhere here from last year, because a guy with a very small forum went through the same thing.

The VPS machines that were quoted are good for small sites, but don't offer much ram at all, so they are not good for busy forums. I tried them.

The costs for moving servers, etc, isn't required if your friend can move the database and files by himself. Also, I'd suggest your friend write billing to ask if the setup fee can be waived since the move isn't necessarily voluntary.

[Aragon]

"better" is relative

whatever happens do the move yourself.

email me if you need help aragon@forumshq.com

[feldon23]

I'm happy with the VPS3000. I've had 60-70 simultaneous vBulletin users with no problems provided I turned off GZIP compression.

[Joe]

No, 23 users online should be just fine on any shared acct. Is there alot of traffic to the site that doesnt see the forums? I cant imagine why they would be kicking you off for such a small site.