Reccommendations for new host

Suggestions welcome.

[Sierra_Dad]

I am unhappy with LP, my current host.

Now I acknowledge that I have a cheap shared hosting subscription and could probably expect nothing better. I would be willing to pay more and possibly get Virtual Private or dedicated host. This is not because my amount of traffic nor income justifies that. I have used only a fraction of the available bandwidth, but I have had notices that I am using up too much resources in mysql or processor. This causes interference from the incompetent technicians who always break something. I'm hesitant to buy a more expensive plan with my current host because I will likely have the same slow response time and unqualified techs.

Going through all the open source software I've installed and rewriting all the software to be more optimal in resource use really isn't an option. That's time I'd rather spend improving my actual product, a software download. Plus the nontrivial amount of time I spend on my day job.

You may not be able to drop urls, but feel free to drop names.

Any advice on moving to a new host with minimal disruption is also appreciated. If it matters, I'm using joomla, SMF, and mysql databases. I hope to have some overlap time.

[limoshawn]

we have been with psek for about 3 years now and i have nothing but great things to say about them. support has been top notch with almost instant responses any time of day or night.

[aeramas]

I have used icdsoft for several years, great people to do business with, best support I have ever seen...

I am looking at ixwebhosting and possibly setting up my own server soon, I am looking for more scalability.

[oziman]

icdsoft is good and cheap, excellent support but is still shared hosting and will cut you off if you're too resource intensive.

we've been with liquid web for our VPS now (the stuff ICDSoft couldn't/wouldn't handle) about 6 months. A little bit pricey but there is always the nice thing that at whatever hour you call, someone is there to answer and help.

Good Luck

[vincevincevince]

You should probably drop by this forum:
Webhosting Issues and Options [webmasterworld.com]

Particularly, I recommend this thread:
What Hosts Have You Used in 2006? [webmasterworld.com]

[Sierra_Dad]

I don't have a subscription yet to visit that other forum, but it might be worthwhile.

I'm interested in knowing the difference in quality between VPS and dedicated server. IS VPS 100 times better than shared hosting, and a dedicated server 100 times better than that? Or would you assign different ratios.

It seems you might run into a lot of the same resource issues with VPS as with shared hosting, and could still tangle with the "resource police". Westhost, for example, claims VPS technology on even its low cost plans.

VPS is more affordable to me than dedicated server right now, but only if I can avoid excessive resource warnings and such.

[Sierra_Dad]

As an update, I'm leaning towards the Business Pro VPS plan at Westhost.

Although I know that dynamic sites are going to use more resources than static html sites, I don't think I'm at the point yet where I have outgrown shared hosting completely

If I have a good experience with the new host, I can look at more dedicated plans as my traffic or profitablity grows.