So just to brief a few of you. In 2008, Lost-Whisper was moved to a dedicated server along with several other web projects. Do to some unexpected events, the web projects were postponed cutting the need for a dedicated server. So I canceled the server, and now I am going to attempt to find a great host in 30 days (because that how long most of the money back guarantees are). The goal is to find a great host at ~$25. As many of you know, most of my sites are already hosted at the wonderful and great SurpassHosting (yes, they pay us to say this), but as the saying goes, “Stabbing too many swords into one body can stain the carpet” or something like that. So I’m trying out different hosts and not overlooking any flaws… Okay, so Surpass uses cPanel and we want more control than it offers, but for the price it can’t be beat. So here are the hosts (we’ve been at and are looking at).

DreamHost – Great if you overlook their past issues. Most things have been resolved and they have good uptime. Highly customizable through their not-so-pretty web panel. But functionality should be looked over eye-candy. I’d be using them now if there wasn’t a setup fee for month-to-month (but new customers can avoid it through coupon codes, old customers can’t). I’d suggest them to people who weren’t past clients of theirs. It’s too costly to startup an account if you were previously hosted with them

Media Temple (grid-service) – So-so. Everyone I know loves them, but compared to the old hosts this site has been hosted off of, it takes ruffly 1.5-3 times longer to load. They limit you to 5 database users. Good I guess for limiting connections and load managing, but if one user has access to the umpteen number of databases and that account gets compromised, say good-bye to all the stuff. Also, your site is identified by a lovely number. Sure it allows for quick support, but it doesn’t seem friendly to me. A plus is that their support team is friendly and has a sense of humor. I’d suggest them if you need the uptime and load balancing whatnot mumbo-jumbo, but for my purposes of just a single lonely blog, I think the speed is too slow. I’d suggest it to those who need something in between a standard VPS and Shared Hosting. Their (dv) plans are apparently great and off the hook, but it doesn’t fall into our current price range and yeah…

Pros: A lot of power for your site. A sub-domain to test sites before pointing the domain over. A nice web panel with a lot of control.
Cons: Slower than most hosts. Have “problems” with the grid which aren’t fully known or understood to them.

WebFaction – So far I’ve heard great things about them and have problems finding negatives (unlike MT, DH, or SH). Signed up and awaiting account activation. Then we’ll move over and see how we likes it. Okay, we started to move files over. They’re really fast and were great for the few moments. You can host almost any type of site and they have so much room for growth and whatnot, but their PHP/Apache settings didn’t work nice with my sites. Since I don’t want to change the sites or start from scratch, I sadly canceled the account. Other than the fact that PHP is run by the Apache user, they’re pretty good. You can install LiteSpeed, but I didn’t want to worry about Port issues or anything. So we’ll keep them on our list as a future host, but I’ll keep searching at the moment.

Pros: Fast. Web Panel with a ton of control. Subdomains for testing your site before moving it over.
Cons: PHP is run as Apache User.

SliceHost – If WF doesn’t work out, then we’ll try out slice host. Heard great things about them, but found a few scary negatives, mainly about how the slice in our price range doesn’t have enough ram for an operating system and a popular site… But we’re not popular yet and upgrading to more ram is as easy as a click of a button I’m told.

There are some other hosts, but I’ll add them if more dominoes fall.

Here is the criteria we’re looking for

• Cost: ~$25 per month
• Payable month-to-month, no long-term contracts
• $0-$10 setup fee (I’m sorry, let me charge you a sign-up fee for me having to fill out your stupid form! gosh I hate setup fees)
• A money-back guarantee (because through this test, I will only stick with one host that is better than the rest)
• Friendly support staff with a sense of humor. Sorry if I have a dry sense of humor, but please play along. If my question before signing up asks “Are you wearing a suit and tie at the moment?” Please answer the question whether seriously or not. Don’t ignore it because answering this question could effect my decision.
• Quick replies to support issues… I can only say that this falls into the above since some of the issues I ask about are dumb as can be. But if you can tell me kindly how to add-on a new domain to host or how to have multiple domains for the same site kindly (even though it’s in your knowledge base) then that’s a plus for you. I understand complex issues take a little longer to get to, but if it can be found on your site, then you should be able to tell me about it with a bit of extra detail.
• At least one female worker… Single if possible in her late teens early twenties who’s looking for a Filippino friend…
• Fast servers with fast speeds
• Great Uptime. We understand a downtime of 30 minutes a week (I’ve been to some hosts who have 30 minutes of downtime a day), but I’d like for my site to always be up.
• The latest and greatest toys, scripting languages and etc.
• Features that make you unique (not the female worker thing, but like a pimped out control panel, a friendly user forum, SSH access, VPS capabilities on a shared server, etc)
• The ability to know what I’m talking about even though I have no clue what I’m talking about. Like you know that support ticket you send in where you’re experiencing a problem, but you don’t know what the problem really is or if it’s caused by you or the host. The host should be able to do their best to find a solution without being mean or insulting.
• A well sized knowledge base or wiki or some other data source about your hosting.
• All OS and Browser compatible. I’ve actually come across a host (a free one though) who required people to use Internet Explorer in order to use the control panel. I understand not supporting Lynx, but at least let me use Firefox, Safari, Opera, or whatever I’m using that day.
• Some other pluses:
  • Limited or no overselling. I know that it’s rare to find a host that does not oversell, but I want to be able to know that the server I’m on will survive traffic once my site becomes popular.
  • User-to-User (with staff visits from time-to-time) forums. A friendly place where I can chat with other hostees and know I’m not suffering alone?
  • Easy to navigate site. Okay… this is sortof a need. I was going to sign up with one host, but I couldn’t find the signup page.
  • Decent looking site. I know I shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, but if the host doesn’t have a reputation, then at least have a decent looking site (and not a site that looks like 500 other hosts)
  • Own their own servers. I’m fine being hosted under a reseller or VPS, but there’s more comfort being hosted by a host that owns the server since they have more control. If a reseller’s host quits, then the reseller and it’s buyer are screwed unless the reseller gets a forewarning and pulls off some good management skills (like yours truly has done before)
  • Can tolerate hosting a twirp… A.k.A some old geezer behind a computer that acts like a 12 year old who discovered the true beauty of the internet and is attempting to have fun by using it…

So wish me luck on the search

Current Interesting Hosts: surpassHosting, webFaction