Recommend a Web Host

[crazyfool]

hey guys,
I'm looking to setup a website and am looking for a webhost. I don't have any specific requirements other than very little downtime, good customer service and not too expensive. At the moment I'm looking at evohosting as this was recommended in a thread I manager to dig up on the forums. Their basic package works out to about £40 quid a year with a free domain. So does anybody know of any better web hosts that you would recommend? Thanks.

[tiggerai]

I've been with Dreamhost for the last 4-5years and can't fault them. The control panel gives you access to do most things you need to.

[Raz316]

Last year I signed up for qiq.co.uk hosting because it was on a ridiculous offer price (11p for a year!).

It has since returned to £19.99 but I intend on staying with it because it does everything I need really well You can get a .co.uk domain for £9.95 for 2 years as well, so that doesn't work out too bad at all.

QiQ premium : http://www.qiq.co.uk/qiqcompare.php

[colincliff]

+1 for qiq

[scaryjim]

I keep swearing I'll leave Webfusion but never get round to it, and to be fair their service isn't terrible (I've had one or two issues, but I've been with them for ~ 4 years). Most of my issues have arisen since I went for a VPS, with their shared hosting I had much less trouble, and iirc it's pretty reasonable in price.

If all you literally need is some webspace for a basic HTML page then 123-reg's starter pack is reasonable at £2.49 a month, but that is *very* basic. I used one of their slightly more expensive packages about 5 years ago for a commercial project and found the service to be pretty good. They're part of the same parent company as webfusion. And if you don't mind having your domain name registered elsewhere to your hosting, 123-reg are probably the cheapest for .uk domains...

[Agent]

Evo-hosting are fantastic. Control panel is very powerful and they respond to tickets very fast

[Bluecube]

Last year I signed up for qiq.co.uk hosting because it was on a ridiculous offer price (11p for a year!).

It has since returned to £19.99 but I intend on staying with it because it does everything I need really well You can get a .co.uk domain for £9.95 for 2 years as well, so that doesn't work out too bad at all.

QiQ premium : http://www.qiq.co.uk/qiqcompare.php

Sorry to hijack this thread but I suppose my question could be relevant to the OP. How fast do web pages download with Qiq? The reason I ask is because I use a US hosting service at the moment and there is a noticeable lag (although quite small) when loading up my web page with some PHP includes. Qiq is considerably cheaper but I don't want to move to them and then discover that there's a lot of lag especially as it's a business website.

[HSK]

Another one for QiQ here.

[crazyfool]

seems like it between evohosting and qiq
I'll have to do a bit more research to see which ones best for me
thanks for the help guys

[Agent]

If you don't mind paying for 2 years worth of subscription, they (evo) also have some. I know I've already said it, but I've been with them years and any issues have been quickly resolved.

I almost went with qiq, but they smacked me down for wanting to run multiple sites under the same package. People on here said they do it fine, but they made it crystal clear to me that I wasn't to do it.

[Rob_B]

I'm using Vidahost, seemed pretty good when I signed up & quite cheap too, support line is always answered double quick & thery're really helpful.
If you sign up let me know as I can give you an affiliate link that will earn a massive £5, happy to split it

[Raz316]

Sorry to hijack this thread but I suppose my question could be relevant to the OP. How fast do web pages download with Qiq? The reason I ask is because I use a US hosting service at the moment and there is a noticeable lag (although quite small) when loading up my web page with some PHP includes. Qiq is considerably cheaper but I don't want to move to them and then discover that there's a lot of lag especially as it's a business website.

The sites I've made tend to have a lot of includes (well potentially, as I auto include class files when required but at a minimum I will include at least 4 files) and I can't say I've seen any real difference to when running on my local machine.

[g8ina]

Fasthosts offer unlimited bandwidth, 5GB space for under a fiver a month. On offer right now at free for 1st month. Domains are about 6 quid for 2 yrs, which is pretty much the same everywhere I guess.

http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/hosting/

I have 2 domains with them, which is a bit of a shame right now as my host is VirginMedia, which dont allow redirects !! Im seriously considering going for their hosting too.

I note the 2 others above only offer a limited BW (1000GB or 20,000GB), and it doesnt say whether it is per month or per year.

Now, if your site is going to use a lot of graphics, esp high res pics, it may be something to consider.

[Saracen]

One thing .... I'm not a fan of free domains. There are some gotcha's with some. First, it might be free in the first year, but what about renewal? Does it stay free, and if not, what is then charged?

Second, if you start a site and it's a success, the domain name is often key, and potentially, valuable. What if you want to move from the company that offered the "free" domain? Will they let you have it, and if so, what do they charge? And bear in mind, you might move because you outgrow that company, but you equally well might move because you aren't satisfied with them, and if so, there'll probably be a history by the time you go and they'll be aware of it. They may choose to be bloody-minded.

I'm not saying all free domains are to be avoided. Some companies may well give you complete control. But for my money (about £3/year for a co.uk) it's a chance not worth taking. I buy my domain names separately, and even if a site offers a free one, I choose to use a name I control, outside of the hosting company's control, and do NOT transfer it to them. Just point it at them.

Of course, it's a little trickier to set up because you've got to do the pointing, but it's hardly rocket science. Hell, I worked it out, so anyone can.

[g8ina]

Hmmmmm, on a slight tangent - Im rather chuffed today as I am in the process of designing a new website for my fibromyalgia support group, and was on the lookout for cheap hosting myself. I was all set to use fasthosts as above, but then I found that some places are offering free hosting for registered charities !

http://www.velnetweb.co.uk/web-hosting/charity

If we qualify as a branch of the UK charity for fibro, we get 200MB, 10GB bandwidth a month and full tech support, ftp, emails etc. Domain will be ten quid for 2 years, so I reckon we are sorted

[crazyfool]

I'm not saying all free domains are to be avoided. Some companies may well give you complete control. But for my money (about £3/year for a co.uk) it's a chance not worth taking. I buy my domain names separately, and even if a site offers a free one, I choose to use a name I control, outside of the hosting company's control, and do NOT transfer it to them. Just point it at them.

Not to sound like an idiot but if I were to go with a company for hosting, and I buy a domain from the same hosting company seperately (not part of the hosting package), you're saying that is different to me getting the domain free with the package?