dedicated servers

[faz]

Hi,

I'm doing a little research into dedicated servers and the best deal i've come accross are:

www.123reg.co.uk have also started doing them at 39.99 per month
www.fasthosts.co.uk from 49 quid a month

Let me know your thoughts on the above.
I need something reliable and secure.

[TechFox]

luxsci.com are my favourites

[Rob Holmes]

Hi Faz,

There are a few of us that do dedicated servers on the forum, have a search around - but from memory vshosting, Tony from TWD hosting and myself.

I guess the question is what sort of level of service are you looking for.

Managed/unmanaged

All bells/no bells?

Depending on your answer we can give a better opinion..

Rob

[JoyDivision]

I would avoid the big names becuase you get very bad customer service. You need a company where they will value you, to the big companies such as 123 and Fasthosts you are just a number to them.

You need to to able to speak to your host directly, not some call centre in Calcutta.

[webit]

I alway recommend our hosts who we have a dedicated service from. Very good and personal service http://www.tdmweb.com but also check our others on the forum.

[Astaroth]

I have only ever used 123reg as a domain register so cannot give comment one way or the other on their sister companies webhosting offerings.

Whilst I understand a number of members obviously want to promote their own businesses I dont think it should be by putting down competitors.

My experience with 123reg has been exceptionally good. When I have encountered problems they have been fixed within minutes and I have always had apologies for them (even when I have caused the problems in the first place)

I have never used fasthosts so cannot comment on them at all and wouldnt write them off simply because they are a large company - they have obviously done something right somewhere along the line to get to the size they are.

[DuaneJackson]

You say best 'deal', but is it? Or is it just the best price?

Two things: Don't go for the cheapest, and avoid 1&1.

You'd need to weigh up the comfort of being with a big name and the level of service you'd get from a smaller company.

[annethedonn]

Virtual Dedicated Servers from £6.99/month.

http://www.freelanceofficeservices.co.uk/hosting_packages.htm

[TWD-Tony]

Also - you need to ask yourself what you want your server to do...


That might seem like a stupid thing to say, but it isn't... The spec of the server should be governed by what your plans are - not the other way around.
Speak to a company who can advise you what is the best solution for YOU.

Also - Don't be swayed by technical specs all the time... Just because you get a few extra GB's of bandwidth with company "A" doesn't mean that comapany "B" shouldn't be considered - they may have better / faster and more connections at the datacenter than company "A" - if you see what I mean.

[MinuWeb]

As mentioned above, what level of management do you need ?

We cannot and would not even try competing with the companies you mentioned as all our servers are fully managed and supported, so the client has to do nothing on server admin side.

If you are reasonable at server admin then an unmanaged solution could work for you, but you also have to think about what happens when it crashes. Can you be around 24/7 to fix it ?

Some hosts will also off so called "managed servers" for what appears to be a cheap price, I would suggest calculating the number of hours support you would require each month, dividing the price by that and then think if the resulting hourly rate is reasonable, chances are if it is not that they have a bad pricing structure and business plan that could lead to problems in the future.

[The_JinJ]

Seems that most people would recommend you steer clear of Fasthosts and more recently 1&1 - I am about to purchase from http://www.openhosting.co.uk/ due to many recommendations.

PM me for more details and a contact if you want to barter a bit for the spec :)

[TWD-Tony]

Just to add to my post above... Do you need a whole dedicated server?
What about 1/2 a server?

Just giving you some more options... :D