Looking for a new host solid with optimizing xF

[ManagerJosh]

Steadfast

http://steadfast.net

 

[Claudio]

AMD 5600+ for 289 month? LOL, how many levels of resellers are they going though for that high of a price.

could be, but an optimized server doesnt mean just a server, it means optimized apache, mysql and nginx/litespeed installed in my opinion.

 

[Mike Edge]

could be, but an optimized server doesnt mean just a server, it means optimized apache, mysql and nginx/litespeed installed in my opinion.

How does that justify a 300% mark up monthly price? All that could be done hiring an admin to do it for a 1 time fee. I could see maybe a 200.00 set up fee to have it done, but not 289 monthly for a market average 99.00 server.

 

[Neal]

www.stablehost.com

Servers in EU and US. Fast, reliable and cheap

 

[AdamD]

Stablehost are good, I had one of their shared packages for a while.
Only odd thing was they don't allow you to host friends or family's websites, it has to be your own sites.

 

[AdamD]

How does that justify a 300% mark up monthly price? All that could be done hiring an admin to do it for a 1 time fee. I could see maybe a 200.00 set up fee to have it done, but not 289 monthly for a market average 99.00 server.

Agreed.
Quite a few webhosts are like that, perhaps hoping that people stumble on them, who don't know any different, thus, sign up.

 

[intradox]

I've used http://www.servint.net/ for the past 2 years. It may be slightly expensive but I've 0 problems with their service and their support when needed is superb.

I pay $150/mo for Dedicated 4gb ram Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X3440 http://www.servint.net/semi_dedicatedservers.php

 

[Claudio]

How does that justify a 300% mark up monthly price? All that could be done hiring an admin to do it for a 1 time fee. I could see maybe a 200.00 set up fee to have it done, but not 289 monthly for a market average 99.00 server.

I agree, Urljet for example has higher prices too:
http://www.urljet.com/vbulletin-dedicated-servers.php

 

[Morgain]

I have just moved to xfhost.me with Mike Edge.
It's a outstanding service. I've had websites for 16 years but never anything like as good as this!

This was a time consuming rescue. Six months ago I had a problem with one of my XF sites getting too big for what I had then. I was offered a good package of hosting and maintenance taking over all my sites. It turned out to be a disaster. Only half my sites were ever transferred, leaving me to pay twice as much a month for the two packages over six months!!!
When I insisted on the other half being transferred I was landed with not only fees but endless aggro. It really has not been a happy six months.

Mike took on a very messy badly maintained situation.
There was no cpanel and domains scattered with different companies ... a lot had to be done manually that should have been possible automatically.

Through several days of exchanging emails to sort out the sad and sorry mess Mike's good humour and courtesy never failed - not once. No matter how basic my questions or how I fizzled out on answering his, there was never any hint that I was ignorant or foolish. All was explained clearly without unnecessary jargon, yet I was not flooded with unnecessary bumf. There was an accurate grasp of my level of knowledge.
This is someone who really knows the difficult skill of Support.
Truly impressive.
Mike clearly kept efficient track of all the detailed information I had to supply him as my sites vary a good deal. Over the four days constant stream of data exchange I only had to remind him of one small item.
Extremely impressive.
I asked about him being a one man company in terms of stability and I was given thorough info on the multiple layers of cover which key into his communication systems to snag his attention whether awake or asleep if necessary. I actually understood almost all of it and I'm reassured my sites are safe.
Mega impressive.
I am well aware that Mike did a lot more than just transfer my sites to his hosting. He guided me through IPSTAG and nameservers on multiple sites across multiple domain hosts (which I think I finally get until I forget it again!) My emails are all working a treat and various other extras are all smoothed out.
I did pay a moderate extra fee very happily because it was so complicated, but it was never suggested in any way that I should - all this MOUNTAIN of work was being done free!
Mega stupendous!
Oh and did I say that everything was answered very fast AND POLITELY. It bears repeating about a difficult job.

My sites are all running faster and lighter than ever before and I'm exploring this very up to date version of cpanel.
Everything is so coolly tidy and straightforward now.

WHEEEEEEE!!!!!

 

[Mike Edge]

Wow, thank you for the very kind words Shan. It does feel great to have that mess completed now

 

[ibaker]

It all comes down to location, location, location...I am in Australia with cable internet access, I use WebNX and have so for several years with a dedicated server of:
8 cores x Intel Xeon CPU E31230 @ 3.20GHz (Speed 1600.000 MHz, Cache 8192 KB), 16gb ram, 4x73gb 15k rpm sas hdd, raid 10, 320gb sata II hdd, 10TB, 100mbps port

For that I only pay $179 for the server, $30 for WHM/cPanel and $28 for complete server management. In Australia I would be paying the same amount for a VPS only that contains only the bare minimum amount of resources that I need but with no overhead protection like I have with my WebNX dedicated server. However my problem was that 90% of my audience is Australian based. So moving the hosting to the West Coast US was a decision made around sure, there would be slightly longer times (180ms compared to around 50ms) but I would hopefully start to pick up on potential International audiences...and that is working although be it very slowly.

Mike, your servers are in Canada, please correct me if I am wrong, and going by Morgain's post saying that her sites are on your servers, the ping time to the housemorgain site for me is over 330ms...far too long for an average user in Australia IF the site was to also try and attract global users so it all comes down to location of audience, location of server and the strategic objectives of your site in where you want it to go.

The third element above of the strategic objectives for your site in terms of targeted audience is what always troubles me when trying to listen to my site's audience. My sites started in Australia so the high Australian user base has actually become detrimental to growth of my sites as the sites are filled with Australian content making growth so much harder. The point I am making is it has become apparent to me that very careful consideration to the location of hosting is very important when your site is new as that will assist you greatly in the long term success of your site

 

[Morgain]

You make excellent sense ibaker.

My sites are completely northern hemisphere constituencies except 2 users on one of them.
The main focus is UK with a sprinkle of Euro, Asia and USA.
So I'm comfy.

Just sent a call for help on an upload error. Mike fixed it within 15 mins. - most of which was asking me questions.

 

[Mike Edge]

Really for web hosting, load speed matters far more then ping, ping really is only crucial in gaming. With how technology has expanded, in a browser there really is not much difference between 50ms ping and 500ms ping, more so even on larger ports. we use 1,000Mbps ports. The data center also has s direct peering from Canada to Sydney and Perth locations in your matter, this cuts down on several hops across the states getting to you. They also offer the same sort of peering to Paris, London and Hong Kong. I would love to hear your input on some of the larger forums we host iBarker, not pings but browser loadings. All feedback we have received so far from anyone switching is how much faster loading is. Give a try to the OP of this threads site now with us, http://www.gotitans.com Would really love to hear how it performs for you based on your distance from Canada, just don't hold adsenses slowness against us, we have no control of that

 

[ibaker]

Mike, this is from Sydney Australia if it helps:


Attached is a text file of the status messages over the 28 secs

But, I believe we are getting off topic in serving the OP

 

[Mike Edge]

Thanks for that, I do wonder how much of that adsense plays in that. How fast was the static content in your browser itself loading, ignoring ads loading.

 

[Brent W]

It all comes down to location, location, location...I am in Australia with cable internet access, I use WebNX and have so for several years with a dedicated server of:
8 cores x Intel Xeon CPU E31230 @ 3.20GHz (Speed 1600.000 MHz, Cache 8192 KB), 16gb ram, 4x73gb 15k rpm sas hdd, raid 10, 320gb sata II hdd, 10TB, 100mbps port

For that I only pay $179 for the server, $30 for WHM/cPanel and $28 for complete server management. In Australia I would be paying the same amount for a VPS only that contains only the bare minimum amount of resources that I need but with no overhead protection like I have with my WebNX dedicated server. However my problem was that 90% of my audience is Australian based. So moving the hosting to the West Coast US was a decision made around sure, there would be slightly longer times (180ms compared to around 50ms) but I would hopefully start to pick up on potential International audiences...and that is working although be it very slowly.

Mike, your servers are in Canada, please correct me if I am wrong, and going by Morgain's post saying that her sites are on your servers, the ping time to the housemorgain site for me is over 330ms...far too long for an average user in Australia IF the site was to also try and attract global users so it all comes down to location of audience, location of server and the strategic objectives of your site in where you want it to go.

The third element above of the strategic objectives for your site in terms of targeted audience is what always troubles me when trying to listen to my site's audience. My sites started in Australia so the high Australian user base has actually become detrimental to growth of my sites as the sites are filled with Australian content making growth so much harder. The point I am making is it has become apparent to me that very careful consideration to the location of hosting is very important when your site is new as that will assist you greatly in the long term success of your site

I love WebNX as well. Great prices.

 

[MattW]

Thanks for that, I do wonder how much of that adsense plays in that. How fast was the static content in your browser itself loading, ignoring ads loading.

I'm seeing around 8/9 seconds per page load on that site. There are 32 scripts being called on each page, and 124 requests per page! 22 of those scripts are ads.

 

[Stuart Wright]

The host we use for ValveTime.net is great but they only have UK servers which may be a bit pointless as I imagine most of your traffic is US based...

They are Nimbus Hosting: http://www.nimbushosting.co.uk/xenforo-hosting.php

Oh wow. You dealt with Tim, then? Have been with Tim (as Global Gold and now Nimbus) for years.

 

[Mouth]

However my problem was that 90% of my audience is Australian based. So moving the hosting to the West Coast US was a decision made around sure, there would be slightly longer times (180ms compared to around 50ms)

Same scenario here. I *very* successfully use CDN to bring that page load time down considerably. To the point that I now have no concerns in considering hosting away from the west coast usa if I was to look elsewhere (although very happy with my host for over 3+ years now).

 

[SchmitzIT]

Oh wow. You dealt with Tim, then? Have been with Tim (as Global Gold and now Nimbus) for years.

Same here, and I still get pleasantly surprised by their customer service