West Host

[Traz]

Hey everyone, I was interested in using these people as my server, but firstly I sent the Customer Service a message in regards to vBulletin. This was the gist of their reply:

We do not support vBulletin. The forum application that we offer and support is phpBB. You may install vBulliten on your server but you will need to do this yourself or have someone familiar with setting it up install and configure it for you. Any troubleshooting on that particular application will need to be up to you or someone that you hire. As far as supporting a main page and a forum that is not a problem. Our uptime average is 99.5 percent over the lifetime of the account.

That did not sound too encouraging. However, since I was looking to get the Professional Install along with vBulletin should I purchase it, it would make the problem irrelevant, correct? Those people replied pretty damn quickly, I might add, so that at least is a good thing. Input would be appreciated. Mostly, I just want a server that has lots of options (the $8.95 a month package with your own domain sounded very good) and is worthy of hosting vBulletin. I will work on a Front-page, but other than that nothing too fancy is required. Cheers.

*Edit*

Failing that, I have heard lots of good things about A Small Orange. However, since what I want is a server with a good VPS, this is what you get at ASO:

VPS plans are currently sold out! Sorry!

That is pretty useless to me. Word around the forums predicts a tentative 're-stock date' of sometime in April. That is a pretty long wait though... I have no interest in 'Shared or Dedicated' servers. To me, I would like to go with West Host or ASO... Input is needed, though. Thanks.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

A lot of host offer (and give support on the forum software) for a free board that comes with their Control Panel. It is (officially) not possible for them to support all kind of software that you install on your server. They should however support server issues.

For support on vBulletin, licensed members can get help either here at vbulletin.com Community forums, or by using the ticket system in the member area.

As long as the host supports the minimum requirements, there shouldn't be too much problems.

PS You always get what you paid for, cheap hosting is not always the best solution.

[Traz]

True? Well I wouldn't want to pay any more than $12.95 a month for just a basic server for a simple front page and forum (doubt I would want to advance it too much) which is what the normal price would be, but the New Years special cuts a few dollars off each month until the 28th of February (if you get on a 24 month plan). A Small Orange is really cheap, so that may fit into the category you were describing. Perhaps I won't bother waiting for them, then.

Obviously, if people were getting heaps of 404 Errors or 'This Page Cannot Be Displayed' messages, my Host would have to help; they couldn't just say, "Nah sorry since you have vBulletin we can't assist you," correct? Indeed, not every server is going to support everything; I know that. Well should I choose to pursue this, I will be getting the Owned/License package of vB, so useful help would always be around here. That is reassuring, I guess.)