Looking for a hosting solution

[Viena]

I'm trying to find a host that has a good quality/price ratio, which I'll probably share with a close friend.

Our needs would be the following:

Performance/Platform: PHP/MySQL support: It should be able to host 2 phpBB forums, with about 50 total users each (not online), so multiple DBs is preferred.
Storage: Lots of storage capacity is not really a requirement. Anywhere from 1 to 4 GB is more than enough.
Bandwidth: I have never used any host seriously, so I don't really have a numeric idea of what our needs would be in bandwidth terms. Basically, it should be able to handle the forums plus some use similar to Imageshack, so I can occasionally post pictures/avatars/sigs on some sites (for example BG) without caring about their content or being removed for excessive traffic. Maybe also being able to support a big file (250MB) being downloaded by select people (less than 10) on rare occasions.

And, if possible, not a host that is unavailable 1/5th of the time.

Thank you in advance.

[Snowknight26]

1&1 has everything you mentioned there. I currently use about 700GB bandwidth per month and their servers are still working flawlessly. No down time, customer support is fantastic (if you don't speak to an Indian), cheap, etc. I've also upped a 13GB file so file size should be no problem.

[Viena]

I guess I am in need of more suggestions, as that site in particular makes mandatory registering with an US address. And their international offers are awful.

I probably could use something false, like I've done since I imported the US FFXI, but I think this is more serious as on occasion they might need to contact me.

[Snowknight26]

Sorry, should have mentioned you weren't in the US. ><

[Killgannon]

http://www.webhostingtalk.com

a great site for finding something that will fit your needs. probably cheaper than 1&1 too

[Viena]

Thanks for the site, Killgannon. I've spent some time with it and found the following:

http://vexxhost.com/hosting.htm

It sounds like a good deal, and the few comments I've found about it in webhostingtalk are mostly positive, but might be too good to be true. Besides, I haven't been able to find the max DB size anywhere.

I didn't think this would be that complicated, there is too much offer and wide price ranges for equivalent (or claimed as) services.

Also, it's stated on the terms of service that adult content is not allowed. What would happen if a user, using the attachment option from a forum hosted there uploads something that violates those terms? How strict use to be the hosts by applying those and what measures do they use to take?

[Killgannon]

there are better solutions than that one... on web hosting talk, i could almost offer you everything you want but there are some things id need to inform you of. i couldnt do the large file hosting, and sometimes speeds would be an issue, bandwidth wouldnt be a problem and space really isnt a problem either, there wouldnt be a gui to set up shit with but i could give you FTP access, and you could just email me if you wanted to setup a mysql db and i'd hook you up, I run my own host from my home (http://www.lifeinbinary.com (nothing there) http://www.hagakurels.com (my ls website)) the speeds are nothing SUPER fast (my max upload is 75KB/s) adult isnt an issue as long is its not illegal... I wouldnt charge you too much (if anything at all... donations are welcome ) and im up 99% of the time (only outages are if i reboot the server (rare), my power goes out (rare) or my service is under going a maintenance (rare) you can ping my server if you'd like 66.93.204.101 and see the response times... let me know via pm if you're interested

edit: and before anyone says anything, yes i'm allowed to do this, my isp allows this type of them (http://www.speakeasy.net) and yes these are static ips so domain hosting wouldnt be an issue either

edit2: i CAN give you gui access over your DBs actually if you'd like. ftp and phpmyadmin should be all you need correct?

[Shuemue]

http://www.site5.com works well for me.

[Killgannon]

my offer is open to anyone really, if you have your own domain that's awesome, if not i can provide you with a vhost on one of my domains (ie yourname.mydomain.com)

[Sonomaa]

BG uses godaddy for the hosting, we has teh powa with them.

BFGServers.com hosted us before we moved to godaddy, we just outgrew him, but he runs via a paypal system and it gets the job done.

[Viena]

Again, thank you for your answers, everyone.

I really appreciate your kind offer, Killgannon. I used to have access to a friend's server that he hosted under his own connection. And while we could use whatever we wanted on it, the upload limitations made load times quite slow (however the average upload speed available around here is only of 256Kbps). I was looking for some commercial solution to get that limitation solved, basically.

I take the time to read the terms of service of every host that seems to cover my needs with a <10$/mo budget, and also to look for reviews about them, basically from http://www.webhostingjury.com/. I'm afraid that my budget doesn't fit into the providers that Sonomaa mentioned.

The site that Shuemue posted (http://www.site5.com) seems to have really poor reviews about its reliability and speeds, besides having a 30,000 file limit that you can reach really easily when having 2 phpBB installations.

Some of the sites that I've found interesting are http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/, which seems an unbelievable good deal at first, but when you take a look at some of the reviews around, you realize that due to their craptastic reliability/speed and account suspension issues, they aren't worth it.

http://www.lunarpages.com/ seems to also offer an excellent deal, and most of the reviews about them are positive. However, I think they are overselling themselves, and that can easily have an effect on their reliability/speed. I would rather pay the same for something that fits more tightly my needs, but that is more reliable.

I think I might end up choosing http://www.cirtexhosting.com/. The reviews about them are fairly good, and their offers less surrealistic.

However, as I am inexperienced on the subject, I'll gladly listen to any additional advice.

Regards.

Edit: From Sonomaa's sites I first just checked the old site where BG was hosted, which didn't have a plan under 10$/mo, but GoDaddy has a plan really similar to what Cirtex offers at the same price range. If you are happy with your experience of hosting BG with them, they might end up being my choice instead of Cirtex. I understand that a shared server will never be as reliable and fast as a dedicated one, but support quality is also an important point.

[Snowknight26]

Only thing GoDaddy is bad for is domain names.

[Demosthenes]

look into powweb, let me know if you choose to go by them before you do.

[Viena]

I've looked for some GoDaddy and PowWeb reviews, and the overall quality of service seems to be worse than what Cirtex offers.

They are even pinned as a decent offer in webhostingtalk, which seems to be an independent site.

[Shuemue]

Site5 are very reliable and have excellent customer service. I've dealt with them for several years now, and on the very rare occasions that I've needed to contact them, tickets have been resolved promptly.

[Viena]

Some people had good experiences with their host, some other people didn't. I'm looking for the host that has most of the people happy inside that price range.

Besides, the file limit it's not a really attractive condition with the use I need it for, as said previously.

I would prefer <5GB and no limitations than 300GB with an awful set of conditions.

[Shuemue]

I wasn't trying to change your mind, just letting you know why I use them.

[Viena]

Nor I was trying to change yours, just explaining why I'm not choosing them.

[evilbau]

there was another topic about this.

i use webhostingbuzz and hostpc and they both are good (in my opinion). price vs. features & reliability (all excellent). I don't have high traffic sites so I can't attest to how it deals with that, but you don't pay super cheap prices if you are expecting real traffic. i have put in tickets for both and they dealt with them well. just one experience.

[Viena]

there was another topic about this.

i use webhostingbuzz and hostpc and they both are good (in my opinion). price vs. features & reliability (all excellent). I don't have high traffic sites so I can't attest to how it deals with that, but you don't pay super cheap prices if you are expecting real traffic. i have put in tickets for both and they dealt with them well. just one experience.

Well, the other thread that I was able to find, asked for a free host. I was looking for a low budget one with certain (small) requirements.

Basically, after reading http://www.webhostingjury.com/reviews/WebHostingBuzz, I'm not touching that .