Side Box: Inexpensive Web Hosting Services
| Update:
To keep track of which web hosting services are the "best" check out the
following two web sites that keep track of and that rate web hosting
services:
http://webresources.tierranet.com/topwebhosts.html
http://webhostlist.com/
They use similar criteria, but their ratings differ substantially.
Worth a visit to start your thinking. |
"Cheap" or Inexpensive places to host a web site (without full ISP service)
continue to spring up faster than any other web service. All "link
rot" (links that have ceased to work) on this page is intentional, to serve
as a warning about how fast these businesses come and go.
Examples include:
-
World Wide Web Commercial Virtual Hosting
Services ($24.95 a month for 40 mb of space and domain registration --
www.your_name.com).
-
Akorn Access ($24.95 a month -- full MS
Frontpage compatibility).
-
Full-Service Web Site Hosting ($19.95 a
month -- 20 mb of space, domain registration, $49.00 set up fee).
-
Go-Site ($99.00 per month, sophisticated
services and support).
-
AnaServe ($19.95 a
month).
-
IS (Dallas) ($24.95 a month).
-
Digiscape ($19.95 a month).
-
Pick ($24.95, no "www" header).
-
http://www.ultrapage.com (free -- the least expensive "incidental" space
you can get).
-
Web2010 ($9.95 non-domain, $24.95
"_your_name_.com").
-
PC Earth (Provides full FrontPage97 support).
-
ISD ($19.95, unlimited e-mail).
-
Home Com ($10.00 non-domain, $24.95 "_your_name_.com").
-
Valueweb ($19.95). 1-888-934-6788
-
IDT ($15.95, variable service levels).
-
Cabletron (full service, full price).
-
PowerT3 ($24.95, T3 lines).
-
<add twenty more names to this spot each week ...>
-
IMC (Microsoft FrontPage97 support)
-
Net Bots "own your own."
-
ICE "Co-location Sites." (No, I don't know what that means -- site went down,
so I never found out).
*Update*
bruce@brucetwilson.com
Dear Mr. Marsh:, I very much enjoyed your page at
http://adrr.com/web/cheapisp.htm. Thank you for taking the time to put it
together.
In reply to your comment that you didn't know what co-location was and would
never find out: co-location (as I understand it) involves one entity placing
its web server hardware in a facility maintained by another entity, where
the first entity is responsible for the web content supported by the server
and the second entity is responsible for the server hardware's well-being
and internet connectivity.
My thanks for the update and explanation.
-
SeaChange "One Stop Shopping" (sells
ISP supplies)
-
Intercom "YourName.Com" "No
minimum contract required." $19.95/month.
-
Indirect $99.00/year -- Canadian.
-
NetBox
-
BestWare $34.00 per month.
-
NetHeads $49.00 per month.
-
Virtual $24.95 per month, 50 mb
space.
-
ADT $29.00 per month.
-
Dialtone $25.00 per month
-
Global
-
American Data Technology "will match
any competitor's price"
-
NetNWeb
-
SureSite "free"
-
StarCom
-
eNet $49.95 200 MB, no set-up fees.
-
AIT $19.95
-
NetSonic $19.95 60 day money back
guarantee
-
Affinity $19.95
-
Site Hosting $14.95 a month
-
CNiWeb
-
ValueWeb $19.95 1-888-934-6788
-
http://www.qualserve.net
-
Hiway
Technologies 1-800-338-HWAY (4929), $24.95 per month. 30,000
domain accounts currently served. This is a service that has
a great deal to recommend it.
-
Infoboard $150.00 set-up, $150.00/month.
1 gigabyte of storage, SQL support, full service.
-
digital Nation $389.00 per month.
Includes 16 megabytes of RAM dedicated to your account, 500 megabytes
space.
-
Virtual Web Server, $295.00 per month, 64
megabytes of RAM, 1.6 gigabytes of space.
-
<add twenty more names to this spot each week ...>
-
http://www.interspeed.net A good example of $19.95, all the space you
can use. This is the current trend in web hosting services.
-
Zoneit.com -- they are
out of business, but last time I checked you could still have a site hosted
through them (this site is hosted via olm.net's service which is taking over
zoneit.com customers -- at zoneit.com's lower rates). I'm hosted via
zoneit.com and found out that they were "undead" when I did not get billed
for service one month. (An "undead" service is one that is still providing
services, just not sending out any bills).
-
olm.net -- good guys, but I'd sign up with
them via zoneit.com. For a law office, the zoneit.com route (olm.net
is still signing up customers via zoneit.com) is less expensive. olm.net
has *only* about three or four thousand customers at present.
-
HostASite with the tag line "The
total solution for all your hosting needs."
-
VastNet "Internet Access, low cost web
site, and Co-Location services in the New York area and Nation wide"
Your local ISP can probably offer you a competitive deal once you show awareness
of the above services. Even SouthWest Bell is attempting to jump into
the market. SWBell plans to offer
hosting services in the summer of 1997. As of the beginning
of 1997 there were about 3,068 ISPs -- almost all of which offered hosting
services. For up to the minute information, past the tip of
the iceberg I've presented here,
check: http://www.boardwatch.com.
And, for just e-mail, aside from Juno which I recently terminated, there
is Valise for free service. For
full ISPs, see National ISPs.
Note, I am (considering) breaking a personal rule here.
Generally, I view and edit to prevent "link rot" (what happens when links
no longer work). For the lists for hosting services, I think that link
rot provides a good warning that not every hosting service will be here for
the long run. I had planned to add to the list, but not to delete links
(unless informed by the service of a merger or address change) to emphasise
that point. I've mellowed (because most of the links are still good)
and have, instead, delinked the "bad" links (so that there is plain text
where the deadwood is, rather than what appears to be a good link). This
will save readers time and the overall record is good enough that it makes
a positive note.
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http://adrr.com/web/cheapisp.htm
