New Web Hosting Provider Needed

[Loz]

My old provider (Orchard Internet) has just announced they are getting out of the web hosting business, which is annoying, as they were damn good. So I need a new one. What I need is...

- Joomla 1.5 allowed/supported

- Perl 5 and MySQL

- Sendmail access from Perl/Joomla

- Cron access

- Webmail (at least 5 boxes)

- Mail forwarding

- Preferably around a fiver a month

Any suggestions?

[MarkE]

I've had a variety of providers over the last 5-10 years but have stuck with United Hosting lately. They have a pre-sales forum here and a knowledgebase at unitedsupport.co.uk.

[Huguenot]

Haha.

I'm not sure I'd take SEO recommendations from Dick given the keyword stuffing on his Google+ page.

[Loz]

One look at that site said SCAM!

[the-e-dealer]

How can you tell?

[Loz]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> How can you tell?

- The intentionally 'amateur' look of the page

- The heading saying, "This page scrutinises UK web hosting services and related companies." and yet comes to the conclusion that only one company is worth dealing with

- The implied disassociation of the page writer with the company

- Far, far too many 'facts' for a casual user of the companies services

And finally, the fact that the poster on this page was a first time poster. Alarm bells rang immediately.

[lozzyloz]

I've been using UK Web Solutions Direct for the last 6 years. Totally reliable and very professional service. Recommend.

http://ukwebsolutionsdirect.co.uk/

[dbboy]

Fasthosts

[Burbage]

I don't think you'll find many providers at your budget (what you'll get for ?5 a month is space on a shared server of some sort) that'll let you set up cron jobs.

However, that may not be too much of a stumbling block, depending on what you want it for. I'm not very familiar with Joomla, but there's a "poor man's cron" module for Drupal (triggering actions roughly on a pre-set schedule, relying on a page-load to fire the trigger) and Joomla may have something similar or, at least, make it relatively simple to include it. Depending, obviously, on what it is.

PHP and MySQL you'll find just about everywhere. Perl is often not found on the cheapest packages, though, so remember to check. Check also whether it will run 'as-is' on the webserver or if it has to be sandboxed away somewhere - if the latter, it can be enough of a pain in the backside to make porting it to PHP a reasonable option.

I can echo what MarkE says about UnitedHosting. I'd question Fasthosts, though. They've not been too reliable in my experience, and their packages look a bit tricksy. Now they're owned by 1and1, 1and1 itself might be a better option - they get a lot of flak, but they're robust, if a little secretive on the support front. But, as with everything, check what you're buying and look out for hidden costs.

[LadyDeliah]

I use www.fatcow.com. Cheap and cheerful and easy to use. Good instant message support too. Based in the US, but I've had no problems with that.

[Loz]

Burbage Wrote:

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> I don't think you'll find many providers at your budget (what you'll get for ?5 a month is space on

> a shared server of some sort) that'll let you set up cron jobs.

Actually, it seems quite common for those providers that use cPanel.

[LadyDeliah]

My one has a deal for ?3 something a month for the first year I think, plus it has unlimited email addresses.