holdfire any good?

christopher · Mar 30th, 2008, 16:03

Is holdfire.net any good?

i notice a few people use it?

1840dsgn · Mar 30th, 2008, 22:47

I've just moved over to it and love it!

I got 2 hosting packages for the price of one as a deal theyw ere doing as well so thats a bonus, and I joined on word of mouth reccomendation so obviously quite a few people like it also.

WESH-UK · Mar 30th, 2008, 23:46

hmmm.

Unlimited database's, and 4GB space with 125GB bandwidth allowance for $6 ???

How many accounts per server do they need to make any profit?

Even if it was something low like 50 accounts, thats 50 x 125GB bandwidth makes 6250GB of bandwidth per month of data that a server has to dish out.

How busy do you think a server needs to be to dish out 208GB of bandwidth per day, and what if thats all database usage?

1GB per day would equate to 500 users on a busy forum all day long, every day (Roughly), so 208GB per day would be 104,000 users, per day, every day.

Now, anybody who seriously thinks 1 server alone can handle that many users per day, is SERIOUSLY overselling.

Also, have a look in the TOS:
Accounts with an invoice that is unpaid after fourteen (14) days will receive a $10 late fee attached to the original invoice but will be subject to suspension after 24 hours of no payment from original invoice due date.

The late fee is understandable, but the suspension after 24 hours?

So, if your card payment fails, and your on holiday, in hospital, or fixing a broken computer, or, god forbid your card is lost/stolen and you need to arrange a new one, and dont see your emails, you will quickly wind up being suspended within 24 hours.

They have NO phone number, no "contact" information anywhere on the website at all, and claim websites are backed up "At least once a week"

Now, keep in mind, we have no experience with holdfire, nor their staff, and are simply offering this as a "First ipressions" point of view based on the information available on their website.

If you guys are both in the UK, why are you looking at US providers if I might ask?

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This is NOT meant as a slagging off to holdfire, just general observations from a consumer perspective
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allsquare · Mar 31st, 2008, 14:31

What is it, care to elaborate?

aso186 · Mar 31st, 2008, 14:38

It's a hosting service! Surely the last two posts gave it away

Plus good notes Wesh

allsquare · Mar 31st, 2008, 14:46

Oh thanks, it's clear.

tankara · Apr 1st, 2008, 12:32

Is that UK company?

aso186 · Apr 1st, 2008, 12:33

christopher · Apr 1st, 2008, 20:51

the main reason im looking at US companies is i find them generally cheaper. I have been with dreamhost for the past 2 years, and am happy, although am looking at a 'reseller' account as such to make it easier to dish out the accounts/email etc to my users.

ive had no problems with us companies before, my view is that US people have to host somewhere too!!!

Oh, and i have $200 on a travel visa card to pay my next hosting bill.

WESH-UK · Apr 1st, 2008, 20:54

Hi Christopher

Are all your customers in the UK too? And will you be explaining to them that their websites will be hosted in the US?

Boy aint I nosey.... lol

christopher · Apr 1st, 2008, 20:59

Yes, all my customers are UK based, and yes, i do tell them i host in the US.

To be honest, i dont really think it matters where i host, 1&1 host in germany and my 1&1 hosted site does well.

as long as its reliable and good value, then i'm happy.

Hunter · Apr 14th, 2008, 11:32

I think you may use the web hosting company that provides web hosting services both in UK and USA. I remember the one - MarbleHost.com. They have datacenters in those countries and the prices are not very high.

shalom_m · Apr 14th, 2008, 18:30

It takes a long time to persuade a potential client to become a customer - it can take minutes to loose him!!

With the above as my guideline a few dollars more spent on a good and reliable hosting company does not really matter.

What does matter:

Reliable Hardware
Good Uptime
Low Server Load
Low Ping Response
Low Memory Used in Server
Min. Swap Used
Trouble Ticket response time under 10 minutes
Phone number to call when needed
Knowledgeable professionals on the other side
Good and stable user interface for you and your clients
Frequent Automatic updates of Op. System, SQL. PHP etc...

If you have all these, your money is well spent.

Aesir · Apr 14th, 2008, 18:36

I am looking for server hosting and have found that US hosting seems to be much cheaper and seems to offer more bang for its buck I was wondering why this is?

Also this will be my first domain hosting and therefore alot of what I upload is going to be practice, eventually I will want to be able to put up a portfolio and so on but I am just really confused about the price differences and what all the different services actually do.

All I know is I need SQL server 2005 and .NET support and ASP.NET.

WESH-UK · Apr 14th, 2008, 18:51

Part of that is the mass overselling that goes on amoung the brovado crowd of "We give more stuff than you do" and due to the exchange rate you also get it cheaper.

If you honestly do the maths and addup the numbers, how many websites chucking out 10,000GB and using 500GB of disk space do you really think a server could cope with at $6 a month?

I think in the UK overselling is far less likely because a lot of the "REAL" hosting companies are 100% accountable and simply dont need the bad press, nor want any of the problems that come with overselling.

You will of course find thousands of hosting companies claiming to be in the UK who may indeed offer similar deals to the US only to find that they probably have a reseller account with a US provider, or use one of those "unlimited everything" packages from somewhere like heart internet.

You'de be amazed how many people really do think "Wow I get 5000GB of monthly bandwidth" yet have no idea what it means....

Aesir, you'll need a windows host then...

Aesir · Apr 14th, 2008, 18:57

Can you recommend any then? As I say I am really new to this thing as a whole and I have no clue about any server hosting or for what kinds of things I should be looking for.

I take it you do not host windows stuff then?

lolita · Apr 15th, 2008, 12:26

I think you may check Jodohost.com and Sibername.com Windows deals, I think their offers are one of the best in the industry.

Bocaj · Apr 15th, 2008, 19:41

Most company's that offer unlimited anything, have a fair usage policy, this applies to everything from mobile phone company's to hosting.

I saw a host a while ago that offered 'unlimited bandwith' and upon reading the tos one clause stated that under their fair usage policy no more than 15gb's may be used, that's just 500mb a day.... now that really is not unlimited....

As politicions put it, they're just economical with the truth....

Anyway... a vast majority foreign based hosts are resellers... which you should avoid as they do not have direct access in the event of a problem, it's like a long chain of customer support, the more links, the more likely one will break.

Write down what you need out of a host, and what you'll realistically need in 12 months, and then find a package to cater for that (give some leverage either side though).

Oh and always read the fineprint

especially with foreign hosts...

Just don't be taken in by all the amazing features you'll never use... and then do some research into the host, and check for contact information (i find that a number one key point) i want to be able to talk to my hosts and not on a premium rate number.

etc. etc.

P.S By the way, i'm talkin in general... just to make that clear

shalom_m · Apr 15th, 2008, 19:54

Aesir,
Since WESH sponsors this forum, I think it is only fair to see what they offer.
If they can provide what you need for a reasonable price go there.

You will find windows based servers 20% - 30% more expensive and a lot less stable.

Most servers will have SQL5 to offer, .NET and ASP.NET will have to be windows based.