Major server issues, bad HostPC review

[murphy]

Hi Dan and you all,

I found dedicated servers starting from 39 US$/month at

www.server4you.com

The only thing is: How much storage and how much traffic is needed. Here -in the US- the traffic is mostly limited (3GB/month down to) 500 MB/month. Nearly the same offers are available in Germany (see www.server4you.de) with "unlimited" traffic. Where "unlimited" is 1TB (=1000GB) and then the transfervolume is reduced from 100MB/s to 10 MB/s and you need something as a manual clearance for every 250 MB extra. But anyway 1TB/month is a real number.

OK, 39 is not the final number, the add-ons are (on the german pricelist):
Linux-servers +0, Windows-servers + 10
Setup around 98 onetime or 5/month
etc

It realy depends how much traffic and storage and service you need.

 

[mustangcoupe]

I should probably go into a little more detail here - I use both siteground and webhero, both of which offer tons of free email stuff.

But what I really want is to get rid of our reliance on yahoogroups.com. I want the ability to have (StreetName)[email protected], so we could host multiple neighborhood watch lists. We would want only the person who's the list moderator for that street to be able to add or approve folks to their list, so there's a sense of confidence that the email list is only for known folks. Anyone should be able to email the list, and have the message sent to everyone on the list.

It's that last sentence which is the kicker. I can set it up so that there are multiple lists, but what standard "shared" hosting plans do not allow is "2way" communication, so that any approved member can email the list and have it sent out.

Ideally I install mailman, which is free but real mailing list software that can achieve my goals. It integrates with Joomla too, which is nice b/c then folks don't actually have to include attachments, they can just include a link to where it sits up on our Joomla site (rockridgeresidents.org), which has a members-only area, and clicking on the link can open that up.

The sticky wicket is that both of those guys don't want to let you install mailman on their boxes due to spam concerns. The package can be used in evil ways, and they have no proof that my ways are honorable. Hence, instead of regulating outcomes (you can only send x emails per hour or at a time), they regulate both outcomes and software packages. Unless you give them $90->$130/month that is for your own box.

IVB,

I host a non profit site (www.nhgpga.org) with bluehost.com they limit X per hour (and if you need more as I did they will bump it up for your account only.) I have 200 per hour I think. They will let you install third party mail scripts but there is one built in with CPanel/Fantastico. Not a huge amount of traffic but I have never had a server problem. Very little downtime with my 5 or so years with them as my host. Way too meny options to list here in the post... but read here......Bluehost.com tell me more page

 

[electron]

That is really cheap for a dedicated server. Bandwidth wise it's pretty good, cpu is so so, but should be as good as being on a shared server.

 

[IVB]

I'm currently at 400 emails/hour for my $6/month shared account, but I think the future in my non-profit community site lies in being a solid portal & one-stop shop. The image gallery is also proving to be popular, so i'm not sure what the future bandwidth needs will be either.

For email, I'd like to setup <street>[email protected] so we can get all thse guys off yahoogroups which archives emails, plus is a royal PITA to join due to the spammer bizarro-ness, plus all the advertising as it's free. But that could easily blow past 400 emails/hour as the neighborhood has about 6000 households, and the target is to have 25 different watch groups.

Once there's a decent amount of traffic, i'll put up a donation page, and for $50-$125/month I can get a dedicated server with the same company where I can do mailman/outbound newsletters, images, and whatever else.

Man, ain't this techie stuff grand!

 

[huggy59]

AH, I see... email list management is what you're seeking. No free email list services you've found will work for you? For small stuff you could run your own, but it would take work to have everything set up properly so domains names and stuff match up. I haven't needed that service so I guess I'm no help to you this time!

 

[electron]

So I officially canceled my account yesterday (the owner even confirmed that the account was cancelled), and I just received a notice from their billing system that they tried to charge my credit card. I have never seen such a level of incompetence. I am glad I replaced my personal information with random data, and replaced my credit card # with a known test # (I suggest you do this as well, if you ever cancel any online account). This just won't end :unsure:

The good news is that if you search for 'hostpc problems' , this thread is linked on the first page.

 

[singeroi]

thank you all for the inputs!