Reliable Web Hosting Reviews

HostMonster does indeed offer some monster of deals on web hosting. Their most basic package starts at $5.95 and dishes out 300 GB of disk space and 3 TB of bandwidth. This is a monstrous amount of disk space and bandwidth for the money of just $6. Furthermore, although HostMonster is a decade old company next year, their servers run on top of the line hardware and they offer superb speeds with their amazing network connections. Furthermore, HostMonster also offers special add-ons such as CGI, Perl, PHP, MYSQL, and a free website builder. In addition to all these excellent add-ons, HostMonster also provides their users with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and the option to check the status of your server. All of these features and tools, plus more, help make the HostMonster web hosting experience the best one you will have!

ServerPronto is a young company that hopes to make it big in the web hosting industry by showing off their reliability and performance. Being the subsidiary of a much larger company, Infolink, ServerPronto enjoys getting top of the line servers, reliable network connections to their data centers, and extra economic backing. ServerPronto was established in 1999 and is still going strong due to their consistency in backing up their promises. Furthermore, ServerPronto web hosting believes in maximizing performance and boosting their customer’s web hosting experience, therefore, ServerPronto only offers dedicated hosting plans. Their starting plan begins with a low $29.95 and they offer 256 MB of RAM, and AMD 2000+ CPU, 200 GB bandwidth, 40GB of disk space, and all the other whistles of a dedicated server for only $29.95 a month.

iPower web hosting has been widely acclaimed as being very reliable and providing flawless service. For only $4.95 a month, iPower provides their users with 300 GB of disk space and 3 TB of bandwidth. This alone is a value by itself, but iPower goes even further to prove their point in being a reliable web host by providing their own Vdeck control panel, live customer chat services online, and numerous tools such as FrontPage compatibility and 24/7 network monitoring. iPower likes to maintain their performance by using state of the art servers that have dual OC-48 connections to ensure that the network can keep up with the server output and vice versa. Furthermore, iPower ensures the safety of information and the importance of performance by keeping less than a thousand users on one server. Usually most shared web hosting servers have thousands of users on each server, but by limiting the number of users on one server, iPower ensures that each website gets the processing power it need and provides less chance of hackers getting into the server. Along with this arsenal of performance and features, iPower web hosting throws in a flood of scripts and software to sweeten the deal.

Dotster web hosting provides a clean and simplistic view on web hosting, say what you will deliver and then deliver the results, and they do that very well. Dotster web hosting has package plans starting at $5.95 per month with 5GB of disk space and 250 GB of bandwidth, along with other features and tools. Furthermore, Dotster has made it their goal to try and make web hosting simpler and easier by reducing spam using spam filters and also by adding helpful tools that simplify website creation and management. In addition to preventing spam and simplifying the user interface, Dotster makes sure that all programs and tools they use are up to date, that their servers will be compatible with most third party tools, and that their hardware will be performing on par of expectations.

1and1 is a dominating company in the web hosting world and simply put there is a reason why that is so, 1&1 is an excellent web host, and they back it up with their actions. 1&1 offers competitive pricing, top of the line hardware, and the experience that a top web hosting company has. 1&1 benefits from partnerships to ISPs and other companies such as Google and Plesk. All of these partnerships ensure that 1and1 web hosting will always have top performance with top experience, meanwhile, providing you with the comfort that the company will not go “bottoms up.” The basic plan that 1&1 offers is $3.99 a month and has 10 GB of disk space and 300 GB of bandwidth. Furthermore, 1&1 throws in some sweet extras such as 1&1 WebsiteBuilder, 1&1 Photo Gallery, Daily Backup of your Website, and a 90 DAY TRIAL PERIOD.

LunarPages is a company with almost a decade of experience when it comes to serving customers with reliable web hosting. LunarPages has a basic package that offers 350 GB of storage, 2.5 TB of bandwidth and an impressive array of extra features such as domain name for life, unlimited MySQL databases, spam protection, blog and photo galleries, and coupon offers. Furthermore, LunarPages web hosting uses top-of-the-line cutting server hardware and constantly updates to the latest versions of the tools they use.

This young company is one of the few new companies that can show that with a new style of business, hard work, and satisfactory performance, that a young company can blossom. MidPhase has made it clear that they are a strong competitive force by making promises and keeping them. Starting packages start at a low price of $7.95 a month (if paid annually) and include 200 GB of disk space along with 3 TB of bandwidth. To further sweeten the deal, MidPhase throws in support for MySQL, Perl, JSP, SSI, SSL, MIME types, osCommerce and Agora shopping Carts, Spam and Virus Filtering, and more. In addition, MidPhase web hosting offers 2 guarantees, a 99.98% server uptime guarantee and a 99.999% network uptime guarantee, both of which come with a refund policy. To top off the cake, MidPhase offers a 30 day risk free money back guarantee trial period.

IX web hosting, an almost 10 year old company, provide its users with an enjoyable, reliable, and easy web hosting experience. IXweb hosting provides a beginning package that is easy on the pocket, $3.95, while not sacrificing disk space or bandwidth, 300 GB and 1.5 TB respectively. In addition, to having experience, up to date hardware, and reliability, IX web hosting comes complementary with a 30 day trial and a 100% money back guarantee. All this packaged with the standard uptime guarantee, many free tools and databases, IX web hosting has a superb web hosting experience offer for potential customers.

Dot5 web hosting provides users with and extremely good package for the very low price of $4.95. Dot5 offers 300 GB of disk space, 3 TB of bandwidth, and a whole arsenal of features. Dot 5 even gives many unlimited features such as unlimited forwarding email accounts, unlimited email autoresponders, unlimited add-on domains, unlimited parked domains, unlimited subdomains, unlimited additional FTP accounts, and unlimited MySQL databases. Dot 5 also comes with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 90 DAY TRIAL.

HostGator is the one the world’s leading web hosting companies that offer a combined package that includes a variety of special features, an excellent up-to-date hardware selection, and an experienced staff that gives their customers a very satisfactory web hosting experience. HostGator’s basic $6.95 package comes with 50 GB of disk space and 200 GB of bandwidth, not to mention, HostGator throws in a huge bundle of features and tools that help their users build more interactive website. In addition, HostGator web hosting uptime rates are absolutely wonderful, what they say they will back up! To further sweeten the deal, HostGator offers a 30 day trial period for just 1 cent!

StartLogic is a vibrant young company that channels its youth and energy into all aspects of its business. They are so confident that you will enjoy their services that they offer a 30 day money-back guarantee. Furthermore, they offer servers that run on both the UNIX and Windows platforms, and at budget low prices also. StartLogic is widely acclaimed for their reliable uptime guarantees and fast upload rates. Furthermore, StartLogic web hosting offers a very economic deal of 300 GB disk space and a 3 TB bandwidth for just $5.95 a month!

BlueHost is widely known as an acclaimed web host with very economically efficient deals. BlueHost’s website boasts an aesthetically pleasing layout, grammatically correct text, and clearly printed contact information. All of these signs lead to a professional web hosting company. Furthermore, Blue Host web hosting features a demo of their control panel on their website so that potential users can play around with it and get a feel for the control panel before opting to purchase a package from BlueHost.

PowWeb is well known for their industrious combination of high performance servers and their consumer friendly low prices, and that hasn’t changed one bit over time. Even today, PowWeb offers a package that includes 200 MB disk space, 16 GB bandwidth, and some features that are usually included in packages double the price, such as, streaming media, Perl 5, Shockwave, MySQL, Cronjobs and much more. Furthermore, to top off the sweet deal, PowWeb web hosting offers a 30 day money-back guarantee. One may ask, “What is the catch?” The catch is very simple, PowWeb only offers Linux platform servers, so if you are looking for a Windows platform server PowWeb is not for you. However, if you do not mind having your server run on Linux, then PowWeb is an excellent excellent choice.

In addition, a crucial part to any good web hosting company is its customer support like so many negative pow web reviews go to show us, and PowWeb offers great customer service with a 24/7 email support service, 9-5 phone customer support, and a forum where users can post questions and get answers. Furthermore, the tech and support staff at the PowWeb hosting company are both courteous and knowledgeable.

Pros – Low cost, 30 day money-back guarantee, with great performance and support.
Cons – Linux based servers, and like most budget hosts, PowWeb has a problem with spammers.

Active Server Page (ASP) – An advanced Microsoft program used to create and maintain databases.

ActiveX – Properties, or controls, that determine the way that information is shared between the website and the user.

Apache – A free server program built by open-source programmers that is often used due to its high stability, performance, and security.

Application Service Provider – A third party who provides programs to be used on the server/network.

Bandwidth – The total amount of data that can be transmitted from the server to the user trying to access the information in a given time. The more bandwidth, the more people can access your website.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) – A script that takes and processes data taken from the user, such as an application.

CGI-bin – The directory on a server where the CGI scripts are stored.

Co-located hosting – A certain hosting option where the consumer provides the physical hardware, while the hosting company provides the internet connection and rack space.

Cookie – A text file that is sent from the server to the user’s computer. Cookies usually are exchanged both ways in order to create custom content for users, and also for data exchanges, such as a registration form.

Dedicated Hosting – A hosting package that allows a user to have the whole server for just their website. While this allows the user to pick their choice of OS, hardware and programs, cost is an issue.

Diesel Generator – A diesel-powered generator used by web hosting company to provide backup power in case of a power outage.

Domain names – Domain names are the word sequences that users type into the URL bar to access your website. Domain names are attached to a DNS, Domain Naming System, which is used to translate numeric addresses (IP) into words.

Firewall – Software that was designed to protect servers by blocking hackers/unauthorized users.

Flash– An animation software developed by Macromedia, which is commonly used due to its low bandwidth usage.

FrontPage – A website design and management tool developed by Microsoft.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) – A method of allowing remote users and servers to exchange files.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) – The language by which servers and users communicate to each other with. All processing/output whatever language it is done in must be converted to HTML before being transferred.

HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) – Is the protocol by which HTML moves files across the internet.

Internet Information Server (IIS) – Microsoft’s new server software only for Windows NT/2000.

Intranet – A huge internal network structured similarly to the internet. The main difference is that on an intranet, only authorized people can use it.

Internet Protocol (IP) – Designs the format of data packets that are used to exchange information over the internet.

IRC – Short for Internet Relay Chat, and is a popular text based multi-user chat network.

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) – Is a high speed solution to moving data over phone lines. On average ISDN can transfer 128,000 bits per second over a standard land line.

Load Balancing – A term that refers to the re-distribution of data across a network of servers so that one server does not get inundated with work, therefore, ensuring reliable performance.

Managed Hosting – A dedicated server that comes with full maintenance and monitoring services. This is slightly different from dedicated web hosting, but is similar in concept.

Multipurpose Internet Email Extensions (MIME) – A protocol that allows users to transfer non-text messages, such as audio, video, or image files through email.

Mirror sites – A mirror site is an exact copy of another FTP and is used to spread traffic or ease the load on a server.

MS Index Server – An add-on for Microsoft Internet Information Server (see above) that indexes documents on servers running IIS. Then the information indexed is presented to users in a searchable format.

Name Server – A server responsible for translating domain names and IP addresses.

Newsgroup – a USENET discussion group (see below).

Network Operations Center (NOC) – Is essentially the command center of the web hosting company, where the physical servers are located and the administration of the servers take place.

Optical Carrier (OC) – Portrays the speed of the fiber-optic network, and the speeds can vary from 1 to 48 Mbps, while OC3 connections can go up to 155.52Mbps.

Packet Switching – The method by which most data is exchanged throughout the internet, the data is often broken down into smaller packets then reassembled after the exchange.

Parking – Domain names must be placed on a server in order to be purchased, therefore, most domain names must be temporarily placed on a server until a hosting plan is purchased or the owner points the DNS to a different site. This action is deemed “parking.”

Post Office Protocol (POP) – An email protocol that mail software use to communicate with mail servers.

Propagation – The process where name servers add new domain names or remove expired ones.

Redundant array of Independent Disks (RAID) – A method of data protection/backup, where data is stored over a number of servers so that information will be still accessible if a piece of hardware/software fails.

Reseller – A reseller operates the components of a web hosting company while using the service, equipment, and infrastructure of an existing web hosting company.

Scalability – The potential expansion factor of a piece of software/hardware as the demand grows.

Shared Hosting – This is the most basic of web hosting services where multiple users have their websites stored on one server. While this allows each user to pay less per month, performance also suffers a cut.

If you plan on buying on economic solution plan for your website, and decide to go into a shared hosting environment, aren’t you worried about the security of your website? After all, since many websites are being run on one server, if something horribly wrong goes wrong with one website, what ensures that it wasn’t due to a virus or hacker? These are the types of questions that reliable web hosting companies keep in mind when setting up their security infrastructure.

Reliable web hosting companies that use UNIX will often implement something called a cage structure. A cage structure does exactly what it sounds like, it virtually cages each website so that anything it does or happens will not affect any of the other users on the server. Another question to ask is if the company does not allow in any unproven binary code. Any unproven binary code, although it may not be directly harmful itself, can open up holes in security that put the website at risk. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the web hosting company in mind does not allow in any unproven binary code, no matter how small the risk is.

Another way reliable web hosting companies provide reliable security is to use a firewall. Firewalls make it harder and even prevent hackers from accessing files stored on the server. In addition, firewalls can stop worms and viruses, whose main function is to destroy data. With a properly configured firewall, hackers, viruses, and worms cannot get in, and they also cannot get out, in case of a breach.

Therefore, as a smart shopper, one must investigate the types of security that a web hosting company implements and also to implement some of your own. By using a tough password setter, eight characters or more, it makes it harder for hackers to obtain passwords to try and gain access to your data. Using all these tips, become and educated consumer and make the best choice for you!