# Recommend a Good Web Host **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091 "2004-03-29T15:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091/1 "2004-03-29T15:50:03Z")
I’m tempted towards [www.powweb.com](http://www.powweb.com) because 1) it’s cheap 2) one gets a tremendous amount of bandwidth and storage space…almost too much. My main concerns with this are 1) a quick look through whose hosted through them doesn’t show any “Big” companies - I got the impression that these web sites were designed by freelancers who included hosting fees in their proposal and grossly inflated the cost, using this site as a way to undercut any competitors. I did some preliminary research before and a friend of mine runs his own hosting service, but even their low cost packages were significantly higher than this site. The site itself will be the for a magazine, straight html, nothing fancy like .php or .asp (although those may be added in the future). At some point in the future, there will be ecommerce. I may decide to add a couple of virtual domains or subdomains there for things like personal web pages, etc., but I can’t imagine myself coming anywhere near the 1 Gb size limit or the bandwidth requirement. Does anyone have any familiarity with this host? Is there a “Consumer Reports” type guide to hosts? Does anyone have other hosts I should be looking at? Having maintained a web site before, but never having started one or having had to deal with a hosting service, I’m not quite sure what to expect. Unforunately, I was hoping to have more time before this site needed to be up, but I think I’ve got a week’s deadline, so quick help would be appreciated… ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091/2 "2004-03-29T17:58:43Z")
I’ve used PowWeb before, including their PHP and MySQL features. I was extremely impressed with everything about them. They appear to be a company run by sincere, talented computer geeks committed to using free software to bring a valuable product to their customers at a decent price. Their tech support, on the rare occasion I needed it, was very helpful, too. And no, I have no affiliation with them other than being a past customer and I’m not getting paid to say any of this, I swear. 😉 I don’t currently host anything there (I have my own server on my company’s network on which I can host whatever I like for free) but I’m seriously considering going back to them for a web forum I’m planning. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091/3 "2004-03-29T18:26:32Z")
I’ve used pairNetworks for several years, and have been extremely happy with them: > **[Website Hosting | Pair Networks | Shared Hosting, Managed WordPress, & more](https://www.pair.com/)** > > Pair is a website hosting company with over 25 years of experience, 99.9% server uptime, and a variety of powerful web hosting plans available, all backed by 24/7, friendly tech support from real employees. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091/4 "2004-03-30T03:36:25Z")
Here’s an unrelated one: If I sign up for a domain, they’ll register it to a company and the address will appear on a whois search. Suppose I’m doing this from home and don’t necessarily want my home address popping up. Can I use a PO box, or is there another way that I won’t have my home address popping up? ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091/5 "2004-03-30T04:58:39Z")
I have been looking around too. I have been reading the [WebHostingTalk Forums](http://www.webhostingtalk.com/). They have a lot of information about various webhosts and domain registrars. I have been leaning toward using [Lunarpages - taking your site higher](http://www.lunarpages.com/), they have been highly rated on the Webhosting forum and they have good prices and tech support from what I can see. Your question about your whois information, for my domain from [GoDaddy.com](http://GoDaddy.com), they offered an option for keeping address information private, but it cost extra. I don’t remember how much. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091/6 "2004-03-30T21:56:33Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#): > > Suppose I’m doing this from home and don’t necessarily want my home address popping up. Can I use a PO box, or is there another way that I won’t have my home address popping up? Yes, you can put whatever you like in there. Some people just plain make stuff up, judging from the various things I see in the whois database from time to time. A PO box is perfectly fine. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-web-host/237091/7 "2004-03-30T22:02:59Z")
I play webmaster for a friend, and she has her PO box in the registration. I’ll second the recommendation to check the WebHostingTalk forums. I’ve used them twice to find a host. (First Infodoma, which mysteriously caved in last summer, and then HostForWeb, which has always given me excellent support.)