UK hosting suggestions

Ingenious

Well-known member
Looking for suggestions for web hosts ideally within the UK (where my community is based) but will consider outside of UK if latency is not considered to be an issue these days.

I only need to host a XenForo forum, nothing else, but it gets up to 400 users online in peak season (up to 100 off season). I do need GeoIP too. It also has to be fully managed. My database size is currently 240Mb but growing fast.

I particularly want a host where the tech support is good - sorry that means under no circumstances 1&1 Internet having previous bad experiences with them.

My budget could be the sticking point, has to be under the equivalent of US$60 a month.

:)
 
Positive Internet have excellent support and their shared hosting package would suit for what you want (apart from the "fully managed" part, but then you're not going to get that for $60 p.m. anyway): http://www.positive-internet.co.uk/services/z-hosting

Support is provided via a web-based ticket system and their engineers are all hard-core techy geeks (not noobs or amateurs!!)

Cheers,
Shaun :D

NB: This is a personal recommendation as I've hosted my dedicated server with them since 2001 and they've never let me down yet!!
 
Thanks Shaun.

By fully managed I mean that if I move to a VPS or dedicated server, it will need to run, from my point of view, like shared hosting with Cpanel (or equivalent) and someone installing and maintaining stuff like PHP and MySQL for me. I will add that I have seen a fully managed VPS on my travels for £39.99 a month so it's not impossible on a smaller budget :)
 
Ah, okay, different understanding of "fully managed" - mine is that the entire server is managed by your hosting company with 24/7 monitoring and emergency support and any and all software/hardware installation/upgrade work being included in the price. A completely hands-off operation for the person renting the server.

AFAIK Positive's shared server's don't include a Cpanel - but I think you get phpMyAdmin and SSH login capability - it's been a while since I set someone up on PosiShared ... ;) ... I used to use them for my web design clients a few years ago (before I wound the web design side of things down).

I'm sure others will relate their experiences from their hosts - mine with Positive is that they have excellent support - and as that's very important to me I feel it is worth the extra that I pay for their hosting as opposed to cheaper providers. :D

Good luck and I hope you find a good deal. (y)

Cheers,
Shaun :D
 
Hi,

We use (and recomend) http://www.nimbushosting.co.uk/

You get Plesk instead of CPanel, but it's just as easy to use :)

Dave.

That's the same server host Mark.B uses, and many others recently moved there using vBulletin after the owner of that site moved away from another hosting company and set that up instead. Apparently, he really knows his stuff and has a very good reputation with many people using him for years.
 
I can vouch for NimbusHosting as well. When Tim started Nimbus, we followed him, and we are extremely satisfied. In fact, we're so satisfied we're recommending them every opportunity we get ;)

XenForo + NimbusHosting = win.
 
I can strongly recommend EEZEE Web

Great service and the support is superb. Lance the owner always seems to go the extra mile. Emails replied to pretty much instantly and always around for a quick phone chat if needed.
 
Not that bothered about cPanel, can always get used to using something new. I won't be going with them just yet though, I'm waiting first until XenForo 1.2 is released and most likely a few versions after that until classed as bug free and very stable (I'm in no rush). For now just playing around with localhost using the current last version making changes and so forth to suit ready for carrying across later, along with adding some article content ready for carrying across as well. But have been looking at host that cater towards XenForo after the trouble I had before.

Nimbus Hosting - is probably my number one choice right now, mainly because of the great REP given by people using them. The only thing I'd pick at is the pricing structure. The smallest VPS Cloud package offered "Whirlwind", plus VAT comes to around £20 month (£240 year). They ain't the cheapest around for sure, but sometimes you only get what you pay for. It's a case of me weighing up "cost v's new forum activity", it needs to be taken into account.
 
Thanks guys, Nimbus looks good. When I said CPanel I should have said "Any front end software that lets me set up emails, etc" :)
 
Thanks guys, Nimbus looks good. When I said CPanel I should have said "Any front end software that lets me set up emails, etc" :)

Nimbus offers Plesk by default (for performance reasons). cPanel is an option, but you will have to ask for it. They will also give you SSH access with root, again, when you ask.

My main reason for plugging them is their awesome support. Whenever I call or mail, I know I'll receive an answer, most of the time within minutes. They go well out of their way to help me sort any issues I might run into and that is in their power to solve.
 
I can strongly recommend EEZEE Web

Great service and the support is superb. Lance the owner always seems to go the extra mile. Emails replied to pretty much instantly and always around for a quick phone chat if needed.

Hello. Are these still a good host? I did have a look at nimbus too but they are too expensive for a small clan to use really.
 
Hello. Are these still a good host? I did have a look at nimbus too but they are too expensive for a small clan to use really.

Very very good. They offer a very personal service, the chap who runs it, Lance is very knowledgeable and if you do ever need support its always very quick.
 
I can't say enough positive things about Nimbus. We run 123 installs of WordPress with WPEngine and decided to move our XF installs off AWS for want of a managed host (as WPEngine is with WordPress) and Nimbus has been excellent with customer service. How much so? We started with one install of XF to test Nimbus and now have 9 installs of XF there with 3 more planned. As well, on our main forum we run "https" and Nimbus handled all those peculiarities with no problem and a smile.

And its not just about service. We lowered our overall hosting bill for our XF installs by 60% with Nimbus and with real service and help thrown in. AND it is always nice with the main man checks in with you from time to time with "how are we doing?".

And BTW, we're biz-based in Colorado and went that far to find great service!
 
I use http://tsohost.com for work servers, £4.99 a month allows up to six websites on the premium package also. Fast response for tech support also and a friendly bunch also.


I migrated away from TSOHost, they were totally unsuitable in my opinion and experience for hosting any kind of forum on their shared or clustered services. The service became increasingly slow and the service became increasingly bad, seemingly around the same time they became part of a larger group of hosting companies.

I'm afraid in my experience TSO were typical of the "life cycle" of web hosts. You start small and independent and therefore offer superb customer service and great speed. As you grow, you expand, service gets diluted when you take on new staff, speed might slow as you have a larger pool of users which grow faster than you can cater for with hardware expansion (or you want to make more profit margin). Then you get bought out and/or merge due to your "success" - then you're just assimilated like the Borg :)
 
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