The minefield that is choosing a web host...

[DarrenK05]

Hi folks,

I'm new to this forum but having spent a number of days trawling through reviews and opinions on various web hosting services I am no further on- every opinion seems to be contradicted by the next one.

Basically I am looking for a reasonably cheap host for my new website. I have looked at the following sites- Papa Host, Just Host, 1&1, iPage, Blue Host, BT, Go Daddy etc etc but all seem to have major issues from existing customers.

My website will be relatively simple- a few pages of text/images with a Paypal option which will link to a downloadable pdf.

Could someone please advise on whether the above companies are recommended or an alternative choice as i seem to be going round in circles!

Thanks in advance,

Darren

 

[Posilan]

Basically I am looking for a reasonably cheap host for my new website. I have looked at the following sites- Papa Host, Just Host, 1&1, iPage, Blue Host, BT, Go Daddy etc etc but all seem to have major issues from existing customers.

Hi Darren,

The vast majority of those you mention are not UK based (most US, 1&1 in Germany). Any reason for that? There are plenty of good UK based hosts and you should always try to use a host where the servers are physically located in the country of your target audience.

We offer UK based hosting from just £11.99+vat per year and host a number of UKBF member sites - details at http://www.posilan.com/hosting

Steve

 

[Super Simon]

AVOID 1&1!

Utter gash. And if you value SEO, you need something that is UK based.

At £11.99 + VAT a year, you can't go wrong with Steve at Posilan.

 

[british steve]

When I first started out and knew no better I used 1&1. They are absolutely F****** Useless. Not only worst webhost company (our server was up and down like a tarts knickers) but probably worst company in Europe full stop.

Years after leaving them they still hound us for money we don't owe them!

Avoid 1&1

 

[Big Pete]

Whatever you do !! do not touch Innohosting , its like your worst nightmare come to haunt you ..

8 hours to get a reply on support ,to much downtime and an attitude that stinks..

 

[DarrenK05]

To be honest I wasn't aware they were all based overseas- they all just seemed to be the most common options when searching for them.

I'll definitely avoid 1&1 anyway!

Thanks

 

[UKSBD]

In my opinion looking for a host is the wrong way to go about it.

You should be looking for a reliable developer and use the hosting they recommend.

Unless of course you are doing everything yourself, but if this is the case and you go down the less than £20 a year route don't expect them to help with any development issues.

I've recommended 3 or 4 hosts from here over the years, just recently one of them sent a message to someone I recommended to them saying they were updating their PHP version.

The person asked if their site would still work, and was told no.

They then asked if they could test their site on the new PHP server and were told their developer should have a test zone in php 5.

I'm not saying the host is wrong to say this, but it empasises to me that the developer is far more important than the host.

Although I have 5 or 6 hosting packages, my main site is hosted and maintained by a developer I trust rather than a host.

 

[startuptrader]

In my opinion looking for a host is the wrong way to go about it.

You should be looking for a reliable developer and use the hosting they recommend.

Unless of course you are doing everything yourself, but if this is the case and you go down the less than £20 a year route don't expect them to help with any development issues.

I've recommended 3 or 4 hosts from here over the years, just recently one of them sent a message to someone I recommended to them saying they were updating their PHP version.

The person asked if their site would still work, and was told no.

They then asked if they could test their site on the new PHP server and were told their developer should have a test zone in php 5.

I'm not saying the host is wrong to say this, but it empasises to me that the developer is far more important than the host.

Although I have 5 or 6 hosting packages, my main site is hosted and maintained by a developer I trust rather than a host.

Ditto this.

 

[Jm38]

Second the 'don't touch 1and1' motion.

A company that I use is Heart Internet

They have been extremely reliable over the past couple of years and when I have had issues they have resolved quickly. The main point about them though is that when you deal with their customer services you very quickly get a response from a real person here in the UK - the customer service is the main reason that I would recommend them.

 

[taska]

Agree with everyone else about 1 & 1 - avoid like the plague.

If you don't mind an international hosting company, I recommend ipage - I have had a few issues with my site (caused by my ignorance - e.g I accidentally overwrote an entire site!) and their 24/7 instant chat is fantastic - they will either tell you how to sort it, step by step, or will go into the site and put it right for you.

My site was back up and running within 20 minutes.

Having said that, if I had have known about Posilan, I would have definitely considered him!

 

[DBMark]

In my opinion looking for a host is the wrong way to go about it.

You should be looking for a reliable developer and use the hosting they recommend.

Unless of course you are doing everything yourself, but if this is the case and you go down the less than £20 a year route don't expect them to help with any development issues.

I've recommended 3 or 4 hosts from here over the years, just recently one of them sent a message to someone I recommended to them saying they were updating their PHP version.

The person asked if their site would still work, and was told no.

They then asked if they could test their site on the new PHP server and were told their developer should have a test zone in php 5.

I'm not saying the host is wrong to say this, but it empasises to me that the developer is far more important than the host.

Although I have 5 or 6 hosting packages, my main site is hosted and maintained by a developer I trust rather than a host.

What (s)he said.
Why quibble over a pound or two a month, when wrong decisions elsewhere concerning development, seo, site performance, downtime, advertising etc can cost thousands?

 

[Dominic Taylor]

Drove past the 1&1 UK HQ today, it's very small for the world's largest hosting company

Reason being, of course, that they're a German company with lots of their support taking place in Germany as far as I understand (and remember from many years ago when I hosted my personal site with them!). Perhaps further afield teams are now used but that's quite common, even for some supposedly UK companies.

Personally I like to see all our staff face to face; I don't know how it would work otherwise.

 

[mickeym]

It seems like everybody used 1&1 for their first website but learned quickly that they aren't very good. I would also add myself to that list.

Right now I am using a company called Stablehost which has both US and European servers available. They're pretty good value and any time I have had a technical issue they've been quick to deal with it or explain. If you are comfortable with using things like Cpanel and FTP programs I would recommend them.

 

[DarrenK05]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I have now got myself sorted in that regard and just have to get on with building the website which again will be a first for me- hopefully it won't be too tricky (fingers crossed!)

 

[ecenica]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I have now got myself sorted in that regard and just have to get on with building the website which again will be a first for me- hopefully it won't be too tricky (fingers crossed!)

Pleased to hear you've made your way through the web host minefield. And good luck with your site. If you want to make things easy install a copy of WordPress

Intersting to read peoples comments here are similar to our customers who jumped ship from 1&1, aka Eins Und Eins, Schlund GMBH. Do these guys still own Fasthosts?

Its sometimes seems these big, supposedly "UK" hosts care more about your billing details being up to date, rather than your site/email being online.

As others have said. Choosing a host with their own in house tech support also pays dividends.

All the best,

^Rich

 

[Dominic Taylor]

Do these guys still own Fasthosts?

Yes

 

[London Bookkeepers]

Yes the web hosting market does also seem to me to be a bit of a nightmare. You def need a UK based host and there are loads that you hear VERY negative things about.
Are there a few that are generally accepted as the better ones in the UK?
Would be great to know if so.
I think it's v important to be able to get hold of somebody for support when needed.

 

[ecenica]

Yes

Danke schön Herr Taylor

For anyone else interested in who owns want, these are also German owned.. (Host Europe GMBH)

123-reg
Host Europe
Web Fusion
Heart Internet
Don Hosts

I wonder what it is that has allowed these Germans brands to become so dominant in the UK? Are they benefitting from tax breaks in Germany?

I'm guessing they benefited from cheaper overheads a decade or so ago when we were faced with higher DC/connectivity overheads. Followed by the strong € and UK recession.

Rich

 

[Dominic Taylor]

It's mostly due to being older companies, but also 123-reg for example were one of the first companies to start doing cheap, mass-market domains. 1&1 were able to aggressively expand (eg I recall they offered free hosting in the US to build a customer base there) as they already had a business in Germany/UK bringing in revenue.

Just about everything is cheaper outside the UK, especially power (which is why OVH can do very cheap dedicated servers for example), and there's also economies of scale to consider.

I think United Internet are the world's largest hosting group, being a public company with around a £2bn market cap.

Host Europe is a private company in turn owned by management / Montagu after a MBO (more info).

Then there's the likes of Endurance International, who own maybe 20 brands including JustHost, iPower, Bluehost and similar types of hosting company.

 

[ecenica]

Interesting stuff.

Sorry guys if Dominic and I have taken this post way off topic

Tracing companies back to their origins, especially in the highly competed hosting sector is one of my pet interests... Yes. I need to get out more LOL.

Rich

 

[pinklaura1234]

I have just started using 1&1, why does everyone say to avoid them? can I transfer easily to another host? I haven't had any problems with them so far but I have only used them for a few days now.

 

[taska]

I have just started using 1&1, why does everyone say to avoid them? can I transfer easily to another host? I haven't had any problems with them so far but I have only used them for a few days now.

I used them many years ago, I can't remember why I decided to go elsewhere but I do remember they made it very difficult to leave - you had to find a document hidden on their site, print it off, fill in the details and sign it, send it to them (which they then denied receiving - twice) before they would let you go. They let you cancel online, but then if you didn't read all the small print you would not have realised that you also had to send them a letter as well - online cancellation was just the start of their cancellation process.

I ended up with threatening letters from debt collectors and even though I told them that I could prove I had cancelled, they insisted on me paying or I would be taken to court, and told me to claim the money back from 1 and 1.

I ended up paying for a years hosting I had cancelled and didn't use: 1 and 1 refused to communicate with me on the matter at all.

Recently (2 weeks ago) I emailed them with a general query (can I host a wordpress blog with 1 & 1) on behalf of a client, and I am still waiting for a response.

 

[GoPD]

I have just started using 1&1, why does everyone say to avoid them? can I transfer easily to another host? I haven't had any problems with them so far but I have only used them for a few days now.

I've had a few problems with them over the years and also have a few horror stories from friends.

They are one of the larger hosts keen on expansion so you would expect them to have maybe more problems than some. For me the biggest problem has been with any kind of customer service when/if there is an issue.

Once they have your money, in my experience, they don't want to know. They also seem use a lot of add on and extra charges for things other hosts offer FOC.

A friend of mine had an issue with payment for a domain with them, they had paid for renewal and had bank statements to prove this but 1&1 would not acknowledge they had received the payment and so suspended and kept the domain, eventually letting it lapse a year later when my friend bought it back.

I've found the UK based Namesco to be a reliable UK host with good customer service but they too have expanded and the last year or so the service has got worse and their prices are not that competative for existing customers. We switched to Hostgator who are US based, but do offer UK services if you prefer, and are over half the price. So far so good.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Never sign a contract or give your payment details so they can charge you automatically. That's how the poor hosts keep you locked in.

Any decent host will make it easy to transfer away if you want to, because they're honest in business, and because they're good so people will rarely transfer away anyway.

Pinklaura, from people's feedback, they'll be fine until you need their help or something goes wrong. A good host is defined really by how well things are run, how well any problems are handled, and how well its users are treated. 1&1 unfortunately fail on all of those counts.

We take on plenty of web hosting refugees from the big names with terrible service (1&1, UK2 etc.). Transfering to another host is very easy. Just make sure you have a copy of your files and any emails you want to keep. We make it as easy to transfer to us as possible so that you aren't stuck with a poor host when you needn't be. I imagine it's the same for other decent web hosts.

Unfortunately companies like 1&1 get so big because of their massive marketing spend and aggressive tactics. In the end though, it means you pay for that advertising, with inflated prices and poor service.

We prefer to keep advertising to a minimum and rely on personal recommendations. That way our clients pay less for much better service, and because they get that level of service at a low cost, they're happy to recommend us. It's win win really. But I guess the likes of 1&1 find it easier just to spend a lot on advertising and hope enough people don't base their decisions on personal recommendations.

I hope that helps.

 

[ukwebhosting]

Hi

Good to see you got sorted.

Just thought I would add a reliable way to get good hosting.

Word of mouth! ask friends, colleagues etc

Thanks

Paul

 

[marble_pars]

I'm going to throw my 2p in as I've been in your position and went through about 5 hosts in a month looking for a good one.

I listened to the guys in here and went with Vidahost haven't looked back since after about 2 years. Have a lot of major clients hosted on them and have 100% confidence in those guys. You can also use this coupon: lwm@vidahost to get 10% off hosting

 

[RevaxMedia]

Hi Darren,

We use EukHost with no issues, we picked them for two reasons;

1. They are local to us (Within 20 miles)
2. I know clients who have used them in the past and when we take over their management they have always been pretty good to deal with (a little slow sometimes) and reasonably priced)