Need to Find a New Host for This Board!! Can you help?

Message

#1 Post by **bbsadmin** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:53 pm

I know that there many technically savvy people on this message board, so I'm asking for your help.

I'm having one hell of a time identifying a new host for this message board. Since its inception, Metal Mouth Message Board has been hosted on Yahoo. But as the board has grown, I have run into problems with Yahoo. In a nutshell: the board is too big for Yahoo's resources. Yahoo allows only a ridiculous 20MB of database storage. Our message board is approaching 200 MB, and growing. Amazingly, I cannot just buy more resources from Yahoo to accommodate this board -- they have a limit, and that is that. (What a stupid way to do business!)

I want to find a reliable host with good customer service that can accommodate ArchWired's growing community. I don't expect it to be cheap, but it can't be outrageously expensive either. This website has always been free for users and I would like to keep it that way. The new host should be able to accommodate a large database and a large amount of traffic/bandwidth. It should have a decent reputation, good solid reliable facilities with little downtime, and decent customer service. (Is that too much to ask??!!)

We thought about hosting the message board ourselves (get a machine and put it in a nearby server farm), But it turns out, that would be quite expensive, so we had to scratch that idea. Which means I am investigating hosting companies.

So far, I have investigated 1&1, Lunarpages, and Hostgator. For various reasons, none of them will work. I was dissapointed to find that 1&1, which has a great reputation, could not accomodate a large database. Hostgator and Lunarpages both got VERY bad reviews in various places on the web (the reviews of Lunarpages were particularly awful). So I have to rule them out.

I have been told by the phpbb community that the following hosts will NOT work well with a message board like ours:

Yahoo
Godaddy
ipowerweb
Startlogic

I tried to post a question on the phpbb community message board asking for host suggestions, but apparently they do not allow you to ask that sort of question. So I'm just going around in circles with this, and the situation is really getting critical. I need to move this board to a new host very soon!

I appreciate any and all suggestions.

Thanks,
Lynn

#2 Post by **dblaney** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:10 pm

I'd look at http://www.inmotionhosting.com/. There eated extremely well for people who use databases and alot of php. You can get dedicated servers and virtual servers if you need one too. I have used them for about a year now and my site hasn't gone down to my knowledge on their end.

#3 Post by **braceface418** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:30 pm

My husband recommends dreamhost. He currently uses 1and1, but says that dreamhost is better. The only reason he hasn't moved is because it'd be a pain to migrate his email and because one of the apps he uses is better supported on 1and1 (the app is gallery2). He did say that if he was hosting a phpbb board, he'd definitely go with dreamhost though.

He also happens to have an affiliate account because he was once signed up with them (left because of support for that one app). I can send you the coupon code, which would save you $50 off of each yearly plan, if you'd like. Full disclosure: I think he'd also get about $45 if you signed up using his affiliate account,.

#4 Post by **bbsadmin** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:29 pm

Thanks, I will look into these hosts.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

#5 Post by **overbite** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:53 am

check out godaddy's deluxe plan

http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/s ... sp?ci=9009

#6 Post by **TinselTim** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 5:42 am

I'm a web developer and have used many different hosts over the past 12 years (both personally, and for my clients).

My "go to" provider is gate.com. Very affordable. Unlimited transfers:

http://gate.com/

Good luck (and thanks for this great forum!)

#7 Post by **lauren** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:22 am

My first comment in months! Feel loved.

I host my (professional photography) website with Dreamhost and I agree that they're awesome. I store a metric sh*t ton of pictures on the back end of my site and have never had problems.

lenoreo wrote:My husband recommends dreamhost. He currently uses 1and1, but says that dreamhost is better. The only reason he hasn't moved is because it'd be a pain to migrate his email and because one of the apps he uses is better supported on 1and1 (the app is gallery2). He did say that if he was hosting a phpbb board, he'd definitely go with dreamhost though.

He also happens to have an affiliate account because he was once signed up with them (left because of support for that one app). I can send you the coupon code, which would save you $50 off of each yearly plan, if you'd like. Full disclosure: I think he'd also get about $45 if you signed up using his affiliate account,.

#8 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:04 pm

www.hostgator.com

http://secure.hostgator.com/cgi-bin/aff ... id=TSchott

-Tim-

PS: Questions ask away

#9 Post by **shaolin** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:07 am

I use Tera-Byte for a couple of my sites

http://web.tera-byte.com/shared.php

Used them for nearly 8 years now. I have a few hosts and have been with several that I've dropped, they all have their problems from time to time, they differ in how they deal with the problems.

#10 Post by **Bluerain** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 2:42 pm

I use hostgator and never had a problem but the again my site isn't as big as yours.

Here's a great forum where you CAN ask questions about different hosts and what's even better the host owners have their own section to answers questions. This is where I went to do research on hosts..it's a really helpful
forum.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/

Blue

#11 Post by **SDFD TSchott** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 11:35 am

Hostgator ftw, get the business package then you get pretty much unlimited everything.... check them out

www.hostgator.com

http://secure.hostgator.com/cgi-bin/aff ... id=TSchott