What's the catch?

[warrior01]

hi there,

could anybody tell me the difference between the $4.95 webhost plan at [the-webhost.com...] and the $25 webhost plan at www.thirdspherehosting.com?

I'm currently hosting my websites with thirdspherehosting, because I thought don't go for the cheap ones, they'll ripp you off one way or the other. But I have the feeling I'm being ripped off right now.

The $4.95 plan has 500 MB space and so does thirdspherehosting. The cheap plan also provides features such as ssi, CGI, MySQL and much more. So could someone tell me why I shouldn't change my webhost?

Thanks in advance,

Wolter

[Shak]

I will offer you free hosting on the following conditions:

I want to ready your incoming email.
I will answer your questions when I feel like it.
Google recognises my servers as being hosted in Cambodia.
I will NOT tell you what my addres is.

The list goes on and on.

If you value your website then you want to know what your host has for breakfast, actually you want to know what the hosts mother has for breakfast.

Shak

[Liane]

No url's please. You may want to remove the specific urls before a moderator does. Please see Terms of Service.

[txbakers]

Shak said it best. You really do get what you pay for.

I used to host with a $6.95/month outfit which was fine - but there was no tech support at all, other than stock answers to emails. No phones, no support.

I learned fast how to manage my site without their help.

Today I host my own and host for other people I trust. I know what the host has for breakfast, and get to play with his kids.

There are thousands upon thousands of web hosts available today. It's sickening for sure. But check them out thoroughly before you sign.

[topr8]

yes you get what you pay for, and sometimes you don't need very much, othertimes you need a lot.

requirements for different sites are different.

and unless you have a very large site that is complicated to move then transferring is not the end of the world, just make sure you are not locked in or you don't pay too much/long up front, be prepared to dump a host if you have to.

for example i have sites hosted that are $3.95 a month for 10 sites which works well for them - not high traffic and not mission critical if they are down for a bit... another site is on $40 for itself a month

[Marketing Guy]

I have to disagree (there's always one isn't there? ;)).

Like any website, you don't necessarily get what you pay for.

Is the value of free information any less than information you paid for?

Granted it varies sector to sector and company to company.

I host my sites on a budget package with an UK based host. For most my sites I pay £3.95 a month.

I only get 25mb of storage (don't need anymore), 1Gb bandwidth, basic stats (Webaliser), supports ASP, FP server extensions, and a few other basic features.

More than enough for my fairly un-technical requirements - any additional services can be bought reasonably cheaply.

Also, I upgraded to their lowest professional package to meet increased bandwidth requirements for a site - a great range of additional and upgraded features.

But the point is that there tech support is excellent.

I get the impression that it is a small business, but most of my email enquiries are answered and usually resolved within an our (sometimes within minutes!).

And being fairly non-techy I do put a lot of work on their support! ;)

An expensive price does not necessarily dictate high quality.

I would suggest trying the other host out for a few months, perhaps for one small site - just see how it goes.

Scott