Recommended European webhosts?

[luton]

A lot of people have mentioned the need/desire for local hosting, but as a newbie, it seems a little daunting to try and figure out which ones are good or not.

Would anyone care to share their experiences - positive or negative - about webhosts in...

Germany
Spain
UK
France
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal

Also, any FREE webhosts in those countries worth considering for a very small (non-corporate) site?

Thanks in advance.

[hakre]

hi luton,

for germany i can only name a bad one for service, stability and features: strato. this is a personal opinion.

the other countries i don't know. it seems to me that free hosting is ever critical if it isn't done by a relyable friend of yours.

[Rumbas]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld Luton! :)
Good question.

We don't want to open the doors to company name dropping in here, so please keep your thoughts on a general level. Specifics should go into sticky mail. Thanks.

That said, what would be the most important elements to look for from a local host?

I'd say, some of them would be:

- Price, but it's better to pay a little more and get the service you need.

- Reliability/up time, the host needs to ensure that their servers are un and running 24/7, otherwise skip them.

- Cultural understanding, IMO the hosting company needs to know about the particular country's internet legislation. Is there anything you can't host? Special subjects that could cause the host to get into trouble etc. You don't wanna end up with a host that has to close down because of some local technicality or dispuit they didn't know about.

- Customer service, you need to be able to talk to them - at least in English if you don't know the language.

- Account managment. Personally I like to handle all my business from one place, being able to manage dns, subdomains, email, cgi's etc. etc. in an easy and fast way. The hosts gives you an option to admin everything you need yourself.

- Ask to see other sites they host. Are they fast engough? PR0'ed? (not necc the hosts fault!), Do a trace route - check the route to the sites - you don't want your customers to go 100's of points before ending up at your place ;)

What else do you look for?

We've had quite a few threads on general hosting selection [searchengineworld.com], most of that also goes for local hosting companies of course.

[heini]

Hi Luton, welcome to the board.
I think there are two administrative issues connected with this.
First is which hoster will accept foreign customers and make it easy for them to pay.
Second is which hoster will accept a foreigner to buy local domains.
Almost any ccTLDs have restrictions, which basically mean you have to have a local address.

So the question would be do you want local hosting under generic TLDs or do you want the ccTLD, and don't really need local hosting?
Mostly this would be a question of intention: do you do it for the users? Or do you want to make sure to appear in local search engines and locally restricted search options on international engines?

[Torben Lundsgaard]

Many companies have restrictions on which scripts you can install because they can lower the performance or stop the server if they are bugged. Not all allow the use of ISAPI, htaccess etc.

Make sure to specify your current and futere needs regarding advanced features and get confirmation from the host.

Torben

[luton]

Does anyone know of a place where non-US webhosts are objectively reviewed? Preferably in English?

[heini]

I have yet to see any place where hosts are reviewed objectively. The places I've seen so far are all as objective as a #1 listing in Overture is.

[louponne]

but it's better to pay a little more and get the service you need.

I think that this is one of the most important points that's often not mentioned in hosting selection. Don't go with the cheapest! Go with reliable first, then cheapest. There's nothing worse than being on a bad host, and I'm sure just about everyone participating in this forum would have a few "horror stories" to tell. I sure do! :(

I have yet to see any place where hosts are reviewed objectively.

Another point I agree with entirely. Never believe the sites that supposedly rate hosts. The only reliable source can be group forums and even there, you have to take things with a grain of salt! Some hosts have their own forums which are public, where you can read through and see when people complain and how they are taken care of.

[luton]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions.