Wanted advice: "cheap"/"good" web-hostin

[DaddyHoggy]

Since NTL/Vermin recently whipped away my webspace (which was full anyway) I haven't had much web presence and I'd like to rectify this.

Ideally, I'd like somewhere to host and make accessible any of my writing (not just oolite/Trek/Discworld but work set in realms of my own creation), plus should I ever get into OXPing (rather than just contributing to), hosting my own data and finally, blogging capabilities (is this just plug-in functionality or does the host need to support it?) as occassionally my blog for my local newspaper is deemed 'unacceptable' and I'd like some of that stuff to go somewhere (plus - as I'm getting back to the novel I'd like to blog about its progress - not something I can do much of in my other blog).

I'm after recommendations and/or prices because typing in "web hosting" or equivalent into Google just swamps you with a multitude of potential hosts.

Cheers

DH

[Lestradae]

box.net

No really, absolutely reliable!

Cheers

L

[DaddyHoggy]

OK, perhaps I was being a little vague or you didn't read everything I wanted it to do (I already use box.net) I want an actual website (i.e. (for example) http://www.daddyhoggy.com) which supports all the other things I wanted, web-storage, blogging, etc.

HTH

DH

[Diziet Sma]

I use 1 & 1 for my hosting. They are cheap and have very good service. Lots of online support and documentation is available also. They often have specials on and in fact are offering 1 year free for new hosting packages in the UK at the moment. The packages have lots of features for the price. Wordpress blogging is available as a drop-in component too... you also have a choice of Linux or Windows servers for your hosting. They can auto-renew your domains and accept PayPal too.

My personal experience with them has been excellent.. zero problems and easy setup.

Go here http://www.oneandone.co.uk/ and click on the Web Hosting link on the left hand side to see what packages are available atm.

Edit: the one year free is for the cheapest package.. the one with blogging included is the next package up.. still good value and has 3 months free.. it's also the package I have myself.. 1&1 Home.

[Diziet Sma]

Oh yeah.. domain registration prices are very competitive too..

[Ivan]

I'd say don't go with the cheapest (some are even 'free', like Heart Internet, but are execrable). You basically get what you pay for. Nildram used to be good but has been taken over by one of the cheap outfits and is consequently now rubbish. gradwell.com has always been good.

Alternatively, something like Google Sites - the modern Geocities type of thing.

Also, these sites can be useful:
www.webhosting.info
www.webhostdir.com
www.webhostingtalk.com
webhostingchat.com

[zevans]

Not sure Rackspace are the cheapest, but absolutely solid and tech support always very helpful.

[Selezen]

1&1 are a very good ISP, yes.

Personally I can recommend Fasthosts (http://www.fasthosts.co.uk) - £8.99 per month for 5GB webspace, 1000 email addresses, framed subdomains, MSSQL database or 5 MySQL databases (depending on whether you go for the Windows or LInux hosting option) and much more.

I've been with them for about 8 years now and have never had any problems with them (apart from one sad database incident) and any small issues or queries have always been very quickly and efficiently dealt with by the services departments.

They are even doing a 50% discount on the first three months of hosting if you take out a package now. You don't have to go for the £8.99 package if that's too much either - you can go for the cheapest one at half that price with about half the included webspace. Check the site out for information.

Fasthosts also incorporate UKReg, which is their domain name purchasing branch. Again, top notch service with some good offers.

I'll have my sales commission now please...