One more hosting question

[SOM]

I read what both Gene and Encryption had to say about hosting in the post started by ultrono. I like what I see from both HostICan and MJWebhosting but how do I differentiate between the two?

Comparison:
MJWebhosting(Shared Premium Plan) HostICan(TerraHost) $23.99Month/$10.95 Month
8 GIG Storage/ 500 Gig Storage
80 GIG Bandwith/ Unmetered
50 MySQL databases/ Unlimited

* I was also a little concerned that the pricing on MJWebhosting mentions that the pricing is based on low activity. To me it feels a little misleading.

Do you see how this can be tough to make a decision for a newbie like me. Please help because I will probably be purchasing from one of these two hosts.

Thanks,

SOM

[Gene Steinberg]

I read what both Gene and Encryption had to say about hosting in the post started by ultrono. I like what I see from both HostICan and MJWebhosting but how do I differentiate between the two?

Comparison:
MJWebhosting(Shared Premium Plan) HostICan(TerraHost) $23.99Month/$10.95 Month
8 GIG Storage/ 500 Gig Storage
80 GIG Bandwith/ Unmetered
50 MySQL databases/ Unlimited

* I was also a little concerned that the pricing on MJWebhosting mentions that the pricing is based on low activity. To me it feels a little misleading.

Do you see how this can be tough to make a decision for a newbie like me. Please help because I will probably be purchasing from one of these two hosts.

Thanks,

SOM

This is a complicated question. Like your wireless phone company, bank, electric company, or even city bus company, a Web host will usually oversell its services. That means that they will offer a large number of features, bandwidth and storage, knowing that only a fraction of a fraction of their users will ever need to even approach those limits.

With a database-driven site, such as a vBulletin forum, CPU and RAM limits will come into play long before other maximums are attained, so this isn't a serious issue. Only mostly static sites, not requiring databases, will be able to approach storage and bandwidth.

If your forum grows so large as to exceed what a shared setup requires, you will just have to upgrade to a semi-dedicated, VPS or dedicated plan. But that may be in the future or far future, depending on your needs.

I can't tell you anything about MJWebHosting. There are thousands of such firms around the country, small and large. What you want is to check the online reports about hosts and see what customers have to say.

In the end, I can speak most reliably on the companies I've worked with, which is why I recommend HostICan. Perhaps people who have used the other service can talk about them, but I fail to see why you'd want to pay more for less, particularly since the host I use has done so well for me in the key elements of performance, uptime and support.

Peace,
Gene

[encryption]

I read what both Gene and Encryption had to say about hosting in the post started by ultrono. I like what I see from both HostICan and MJWebhosting but how do I differentiate between the two?

Comparison:
MJWebhosting(Shared Premium Plan) HostICan(TerraHost) $23.99Month/$10.95 Month
8 GIG Storage/ 500 Gig Storage
80 GIG Bandwith/ Unmetered
50 MySQL databases/ Unlimited

* I was also a little concerned that the pricing on MJWebhosting mentions that the pricing is based on low activity. To me it feels a little misleading.

Do you see how this can be tough to make a decision for a newbie like me. Please help because I will probably be purchasing from one of these two hosts.

Thanks,

SOM

If you consider the fact that the single largest hard drive a dedicated server can have is 500 GB, a great "majority" of dedicated servers come with 2 or 3 Terrabytes of bandwidth a month, and a reliable dedicated server for CPU hungry applications will start at $150 and higher (nearing $200 with the software and add ons), do you really think a webhost is going to give you 500 GB of HD space and unlimited BW at $10.95/Month.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, bandwidth and HD space are the least important factors when you consider CPU intensive forum hosting.

Nearly all hosts giving you packages with "unlimited" bandwidth will be on a crowded port that barely gives you 1 Mbit/sec. As a result, your real throughput would barely get past 2 / 300 gb in a month and that is if you maxed out that connection 24 hours a day.

Even if you get a 10mbit dedicated port and your host "allowed" you to MAX out that port 24 hours a day, you'd get 3.1 terrabytes of throughput in a month. So it's still NOT unlimited bandwidth because there is a limit what that connection will give you.

Don't get taken in by misleadings of terminology. For clients who approach me with concerns on BW, I gladly extend bonuses of 50 - 75%. BW is rarely as big a concern for a webhost, especially if the package a client gets is higher because now, a larger part of the server hardware cost is being recovered.

Standard prices listed on our website are done with conservative HW + BW offerings because we have to spread out the possibility that perhaps in a given month, we suddenly have an influx of smaller packages that could potentially take more accounts to cover the hardware expense.

Moreover, it's not just bandwidth but "PREMIUM" Bandwidth that counts.

The reason I say premium is because my own forum hosts 60 - 360 minute DJ mixes for download ranging in size from 70 megabytes up to 300+. We cant have the connection locked down by several high-speed downloads and so its imperative the download completes quick. Yes we do throttle the number of simultaneous transfers but it's also keeping the availability of the site in mind.

The 2 x fundamental factors in forum hosting (in my opinion) are speed (server load and port connection leading to how quick the site loads on the users end) and uptime. There are a dime-a-dozen overcrowded webhosting companies on the web but I know what I offer and its because I have been dealing with webhosts and forum hosting since late 2001 / early 2002. I know a thing or two about this line and what it takes to run a site effectively. That's why we got into the business because of the sheer number of halfwits out there who are ruining a perfectly good industry.

Although I do find it funny that Gene mentions that he can't "say" anything about MJWebHosting because there are thousands of such firms around the country, small and large (which is totally acceptable), but he will speak most "reliably" on HostICan, even when he's barely completed a month and half there and he's been pushing them incredibly well since his first week hosting with them.

In any event, I'm not here to sell my services and stick our webhosting name into every thread, I'm here to share an opinion on "hosting".

[Gene Steinberg]

If you consider the fact that the single largest hard drive a dedicated server can have is 500 GB, a great "majority" of dedicated servers come with 2 or 3 Terrabytes of bandwidth a month, and a reliable dedicated server for CPU hungry applications will start at $150 and higher (nearing $200 with the software and add ons), do you really think a webhost is going to give you 500 GB of HD space and unlimited BW at $10.95/Month.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, bandwidth and HD space are the least important factors when you consider CPU intensive forum hosting.

Nearly all hosts giving you packages with "unlimited" bandwidth will be on a crowded port that barely gives you 1 Mbit/sec. As a result, your real throughput would barely get past 2 / 300 gb in a month and that is if you maxed out that connection 24 hours a day.

Even if you get a 10mbit dedicated port and your host "allowed" you to MAX out that port 24 hours a day, you'd get 3.1 terrabytes of throughput in a month. So it's still NOT unlimited bandwidth because there is a limit what that connection will give you.

Don't get taken in by misleadings of terminology. For clients who approach me with concerns on BW, I gladly extend bonuses of 50 - 75%. BW is rarely as big a concern for a webhost, especially if the package a client gets is higher because now, a larger part of the server hardware cost is being recovered.

Standard prices listed on our website are done with conservative HW + BW offerings because we have to spread out the possibility that perhaps in a given month, we suddenly have an influx of smaller packages that could potentially take more accounts to cover the hardware expense.

Moreover, it's not just bandwidth but "PREMIUM" Bandwidth that counts.

The reason I say premium is because my own forum hosts 60 - 360 minute DJ mixes for download ranging in size from 70 megabytes up to 300+. We cant have the connection locked down by several high-speed downloads and so its imperative the download completes quick. Yes we do throttle the number of simultaneous transfers but it's also keeping the availability of the site in mind.

The 2 x fundamental factors in forum hosting (in my opinion) are speed (server load and port connection leading to how quick the site loads on the users end) and uptime. There are a dime-a-dozen overcrowded webhosting companies on the web but I know what I offer and its because I have been dealing with webhosts and forum hosting since late 2001 / early 2002. I know a thing or two about this line and what it takes to run a site effectively. That's why we got into the business because of the sheer number of halfwits out there who are ruining a perfectly good industry.

Although I do find it funny that Gene mentions that he can't "say" anything about MJWebHosting because there are thousands of such firms around the country, small and large (which is totally acceptable), but he will speak most "reliably" on HostICan, even when he's barely completed a month and half there and he's been pushing them incredibly well since his first week hosting with them.

In any event, I'm not here to sell my services and stick our webhosting name into every thread, I'm here to share an opinion on "hosting".

No, my friend, that's one large sales pitch about how you organize your own services and why you are better than other companies.

Please let it rest, OK?

I'll grant, without having personal experience, that your company is fabulous and that you are dedicated to providing the best possible experience for your customers, OK? But you also have too much of a vested interest in your own business plan.

Actually, I kept my experiences with HostICan to a minimum at the beginning. As I approach two months with the service, however, it only confirms my original impressions.

And I've had sites online since 1999, so I've been dealing with hosts for a while. It's not a business I'll ever get involved in. Best of luck to you.

Peace,
Gene

[encryption]

No, my friend, that's one large sales pitch about how you organize your own services and why you are better than other companies.

lol - that's rich coming from you Gene.

So when my webhosting company is SPECIFICALLY called on in a thread and my services questioned, me responding to it is a sales pitch, but you spamming this board with paracast and hostican from your 2nd week there is "keeping your experiences to a minimum".

Thanks for constructively responding. I'm sure we're all learning in great detail how hostican is changing the face of hosting.

Anyways SOM, back to the topic at hand, if you have any other specific question for me, please feel free to post it in here. I'll let Gene have his last post.

[Gene Steinberg]

lol - that's rich coming from you Gene.

So when my webhosting company is SPECIFICALLY called on in a thread and my services questioned, me responding to it is a sales pitch, but you spamming this board with paracast and hostican from your 2nd week there is "keeping your experiences to a minimum".

Thanks for constructively responding. I'm sure we're all learning in great detail how hostican is changing the face of hosting.

Anyways SOM, back to the topic at hand, if you have any other specific question for me, please feel free to post it in here. I'll let Gene have his last post.

Actually, back to the topic at hand, if I respond to someone's request for a recommendation about a host with a suggestion, that's perfectly on topic and not something you should be questioning. In fact, and you ignore this, I actually listed three possible hosts in the related thread.

As to The Paracast, I have mentioned the vBulletin forum I run so folks can test it for performance and see if the host I suggest is doing a good job.

Now back to the previous sales pitch

Peace,
Gene

[SOM]

Encryption,

I like what you both have to say. I respect you selling your company...why wouldn't you! I also respect Gene's info. I have noticed over the past two days you both don't see eye to eye and that is OK. In some respects I think you both are right with what you are saying. It all comes down to what the site is looking for from a host. I will try and contact you today to discuss what I am looking to do and get your thoughts. I am trying to wrap up this hosting situation by tomorrow the latest so I can move onto the important task of setting up my site.

Thanks all for taking the time!!!

SOM

[encryption]

Actually, back to the topic at hand, if I respond to someone's request for a recommendation about a host with a suggestion, that's perfectly on topic and not something you should be questioning. In fact, and you ignore this, I actually listed three possible hosts in the related thread.

As to The Paracast, I have mentioned the vBulletin forum I run so folks can test it for performance and see if the host I suggest is doing a good job.

Now back to the previous sales pitch

Peace,
Gene

I'm sorry I missed all the members in here requesting a link to your forum to check out how hostican's server's are dealing with the intense load that your board exerts on their servers.

Encryption,

I like what you both have to say. I respect you selling your company...why wouldn't you! I also respect Gene's info. I have noticed over the past two days you both don't see eye to eye and that is OK. In some respects I think you both are right with what you are saying. It all comes down to what the site is looking for from a host. I will try and contact you today to discuss what I am looking to do and get your thoughts. I am trying to wrap up this hosting situation by tomorrow the latest so I can move onto the important task of setting up my site.

Thanks all for taking the time!!!

SOM

Good luck with your search.

[Gene Steinberg]

I'm sorry I missed all the members in here requesting a link to your forum to check out how hostican's server's are dealing with the intense load that your board exerts on their servers.

I'm sorry, but I fail to see what upsets you so much about someone recommending a host other than your company. I think you just have far too much of a vested interest in your own services to look at this matter objectively.

Maybe you should just have a nice cup of tea, settle back, and not worry so much about what other people say. It's not personal.

Peace,
Gene

[AKapadia]

I think there's something fishy that hostican is giving away vb for free when its a paid license software

[Gene Steinberg]

I think there's something fishy that hostican is giving away vb for free when its a paid license software

That's crazy. I see no such offering at their site. Where do you come up with this stuff?

Peace,
Gene

[AKapadia]

That's crazy. I see no such offering at their site. Where do you come up with this stuff?

Peace,
Gene

http://www.hostican.com/hosting/shared-hosting.php

Check Free Software

[Gene Steinberg]

http://www.hostican.com/hosting/shared-hosting.php

Check Free Software

I did. It says phpbb, which is a free open source bulletin board application offered by lots and lots of hosts.

Peace,
Gene

[encryption]

I'm sorry, but I fail to see what upsets you so much about someone recommending a host other than your company. I think you just have far too much of a vested interest in your own services to look at this matter objectively.

lol your responses are absolutely fantasticular.

I did. It says phpbb, which is a free open source bulletin board application offered by lots and lots of hosts.

well I saw it too as soon as akapadia posted, nice of them to make a quick switch.

[Gene Steinberg]

lol your responses are absolutely fantasticular.




well I saw it too as soon as akapadia posted, nice of them to make a quick switch.

Whatever. I didn't see it. Maybe the extraterrestrials did it?

Peace,
Gene