Inexpensive hosting is it OK for small sites?

Here is a specific example which I found very interesting..

[andrey_sea]

I came across "hostonce" and their offer seems almost too good to be true. It is obviously a virtual hosting provider, but at that price with real time stats and other features the offer I find myself very tempted to try it out on a small site. Anybody has any comments about this or other similar offers at that price?

Sorry if this is inappropriate, since I name a specific company, I am just really curious and would love to know if they are OK host.

Please sticky mail me if your comment is too strong for the forum...

thanks.

[oilman]

I've never had any experience with hostonce personally but a pretty good rule of thumb with hosting is "You Get What You Pay For."

OTOH they are so cheap it might be worth the money to try them out. If they suck you're not out much money at all. And if they turn out to be alright the you win.

[click watcher]

what oilman said.

my further reservation is that i'm always extra suspicious when you have to pay a year up front.

[Marcia]

I just found one like that - $15 a year with the works. Tempting.

[Mike_Mackin]

"You Get What You Pay For."

[andrey_sea]

Thanks for the reply's, keep them coming...

When you guys say "you get what you pay for" do you have in mind the server up times and response times or something else?

I realize that that that price you don't get any support, they don't even have a contact phone # ! They do all of their "support" online via their website.

So I guess, since I know how to deal with anything they would give me control over I am only concerned with up times and server speeds... Or is there something critical that I am missing?

[diddlydazz]

Just my opinion:

I have had some bad experience with 2 hosts just recently, one I paid 2 years in advance due to the cheap price, and I was greatly dissapointed.

My advice would be do what you are doing and ask people for their experiences with a host you are interested in.

One other point, there is nothing more frustrating when you have a problem than have to wait and wait and wait for a response from support.

Just my opinion from my experience.

Good Luck :)

Dazz

[chiyo]

Or is there something critical that I am missing?

Make sure they dont have low memory limitations if you are using scripts. They could get reaped.

Make sure you have full access to your own cgi-bin

Make sure they are not hosting hundreds of sites on one IP. Other owners of domains in the same server as yours may affect you. Make sure it is a good neighbourhood.

Down time important yes!

Check ther turnaround time on email enquiries.

Check their speed (there are a few websites that will check the speed of servers..)

[ggrot]

Personally, I like smaller companies for hosting. I find that as hosting companies grow, many don't know how to scale their business practices. CS Response times increase, number of sites per machine increases, etc. I played with the big names for a while, changing companies every time my contract expired, and now I am with a smaller company that has had almost no downtime and answers all my questions (albeit only by email) within an hour. The price is competitive as well for a virtual dedicated server.

[Key_Master]

I can't see how they make any money...

What I do is go to my favorite search engine and search for sites that use the host server I'm interested in (usually, the host name is all you need for a search term). Not only do you learn what others think of the service, you can see how fast the pages load on those sites.