Author Topic: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations  (Read 8795 times)

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Offline Intheswamp

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Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« on: October 30, 2017, 09:05:14 AM »
Ok, Greg/Slowmodem mentioned in another post about the cost of hosting at Godaddy and he is ready to make a change.  I've hosted at Godaddy since I first setup www.BeeWeather.com 4-5 years ago...and I'm tired of Godaddy's pricing, they load my inbox up with "specials" regarding *new* purchases but it's a rare bird to see *any* deals on renewals.  Though it has worked "well" for the last year or so the biggest problems that I've had with the website were on *their* side, not mine, but yet there was never a "sorry, my bad..." from them...just a reminder that I needed to send them money.  So, do some of you have recommendations on hosting providers and domain registrars that you are using or have used and that have good pricing *and* good service?  I'm not smart enough to know the questions that I need to ask but I do know that I need an interface/control panel with the provider that I can navigate without too much anguish. :)  So, got milk recommendations....???

Thanks!!!
Ed

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Offline PaulMy

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2017, 09:39:08 AM »
Hi Ed,
I am also concerned about their (GoDaddy) continued high cost but overall get pretty good service.  All the work to change my sites, MySQL, fixing the things that now work but may not with a new provider, etc. scares me from seriously looking elsewhere.

But I DID get a "sorry", once!
Quote
A scheduled upgrade may have delayed your emails.             
   
Your messages were delivered. We're sorry for the disruption.
   [/q][/t][/t]               We know reliable email is important to your success, and we take our commitment to you seriously. Following the completion of a scheduled upgrade to our systems on Monday, some customers began experiencing a delay in receiving emails. Please accept our apology for the disruption. We're making improvements to prevent these kinds of issues in the future.
 
 We appreciate your business and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
 
 Thank you for being a GoDaddy customer.
 
 Sincerely,
 
 Irana Wasti
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Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2017, 10:22:15 AM »
Interesting.  I just did a surname search and Wasti originated from Wasit, Iraq.  At least they did same "sorry". ;)

My site isn't nearly as complex as yours, Paul and I know that I'd have trouble getting it back up and running...I can't imagine what you'd be dealing with.   But, maybe my site needs a bit of a change anyhow, and some things do need updating. 

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Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2017, 10:41:13 AM »
Hi Ed,

May I suggest ICDSoft. I have used them for the last 7 years and have had no issues, outside of my own screwups. The only time they were down was when Superstorm Sandy came through and cut a fiber connection in the Northeast. They were down about 6 hours. Their customer service is awesome. ALL of my issues were resolved in less than 15 minutes.

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

John
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Offline weather34

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2017, 11:33:57 AM »
Hi Ed,

May I suggest ICDSoft. I have used them for the last 7 years and have had no issues, outside of my own screwups. The only time they were down was when Superstorm Sandy came through and cut a fiber connection in the Northeast. They were down about 6 hours. Their customer service is awesome. ALL of my issues were resolved in less than 15 minutes.

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

John

100% agreement in almost 20 years I’ve never found a better company all round and I’ve paid more at times . Support response is impressive and fast. Rarely you get to talk to support that actually understands but the guys at icdsoft are impressive. Worth every dime or penny ..brian

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2017, 01:24:23 PM »
Thanks for the recommendations for ICDSOFT.  I've visited their website and it looks good...big difference from Godaddy's where each page is trying to sell you something!  I've sent an email off to them to see what kind of response I get.  I've still got some hosting and domain registration time left (paid for) with Godaddy so I've gotta figure that angle out.  Seems that I read at one time that some hosts will take on your remaining time.  I think May of 2018 is my renewal date for the website hosting...but registration on beeweather.com and a few other domains are stretched on out there.  We'll see... :)

Thanks again for the recommendations!

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Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2017, 01:36:01 PM »
Nice...I've just received a response from ICDSOFT.  That was quick (relative to Godaddy's response times that I've experienced).

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Offline Bunty

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2017, 10:02:53 PM »
KVC Hosting isn't too bad. I started with a three year deal 3 years ago at $107.64 and just renewed it at the very same price.

I noticed my site went down Sat. night and notified them via trouble ticket.  It was back up in a few minutes.  That kind of outage has been quite rare.  Only other memorable outages had to do with their SSD going corrupt and a cut fiber optic cable, due to a nearby construction project.  Both outages lasted not quite a day.

In setting up, several php files wouldn't work, and Ken was quite helpful in telling me what to tell support about what needed done from their side.

I use Namecheap to register my domains.

Also the 2nd home page using modified AltDashboard 6.95 at http://stillwaterweather.com/2ndhome.php

Offline ValentineWeather

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2017, 10:11:33 PM »
How does ICDSOFT handle FTP. Some sites limit usage I have 5-6 cameras sending images every 1-2 minutes along with ajax sending realtime data every 4 seconds, pulling forecast etc.  so my site uses a lot of bandwidth.
Randy

Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #9 on: October 30, 2017, 10:18:17 PM »
Hi Randy,

I have the business account with 100GB of space and 1TB of bandwidth per month. I believe they allow a max of 10? concurrent FTP connections. Don't quote me on that.

I upload Cumulus every 20 seconds, plus the every 5minute big upload of graphs, etc. I also upload GR3 images, too. I use something like 10GB of bandwidth a month, give or take. Main reason I don't upload more is because of my bandwidth at home (512KBs upload).

John
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Offline ValentineWeather

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #10 on: October 30, 2017, 10:22:29 PM »
Thanks John , I think I would need the business $10 month also but about the same cost as Godaddy.
My monthly bandwidth usage is around 60 gigs.

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Randy

Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2017, 10:25:54 PM »
After the first year, you get a 20% discount. They also have my domain name as well. I just re-upped for 2 years and the cost was $212 and change, I believe. That cost includes my domain name.
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Offline stanleyjenkins

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #12 on: November 01, 2017, 07:13:27 AM »
For Windows hosting, I highly recommend WinHost. I have a few websites hosted by them and have never had any issues.  For registrations, I'm a DreamHost guy. A little more expensive than other places, but another company I have all but great things to say.

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #13 on: February 07, 2018, 09:23:18 AM »
<sigh>  I think I'm brain dead.

I exchanged several messages with ICDSoft yesterday afternoon/evening trying to understand what I can and can't do with them.  And I got more and more confused.  It appears that before I can do anything with them I need to purchase a hosting account.  The problem is that I've got 3-4 more months paid for at Godaddy for hosting of beeweather.com but I've 3-4 domains needing to be renewed within the next week or so.  :???:

I've got a couple of domain names that I figure I might can sale one day and recover some of my registration money that I've paid through the years so I want them to be secure wherever they are parked at.  I'm tending to align with Paul in not wanting to move from Godaddy for concerns of problems that might pop up.

So, with ICDSoft do you register domains elsewhere and use ICDSoft for the actual website hosting?  It does sound like you can have a hosting account with them and park other domains in that account.  They still charge per domain name, though, but at a good bit cheaper price than Godaddy.  Maybe I should go ahead and buy a hosting plan from them and park the expiring domains there and begin working on transferring BeeWeather there...???

I used to have a lot of hair....
Ed






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Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #14 on: February 07, 2018, 09:30:41 AM »
Hi Ed,

When I first went to ICDSoft, my domains were still with GoDaddy. I have since moved them to ICDSoft. Check with their support, they are awesome to work with!!!
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Offline WeatherHost

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #15 on: February 07, 2018, 09:48:43 AM »
Yes, ICD registers domains.

Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #16 on: February 07, 2018, 10:55:56 AM »
Oh, let me tell you something...  Those folks have an extra heaping of patience in their DNA!!!!  :lol:  I've never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer and they have waded through a bunch of probably what seemed to be "cryptic" emails from me.  :)  Just from their patience with me and quick responses I'm really wanting to move there!!!

From what I understand you need a hosting account before you can park a domain there.  Being as I've got the 3-4 domain names I need to do something with *before* I move beeweather.com it's kind of a problem...I think. 

I've about decided to go ahead and buy a hosting account, move the domains that are coming up for renewal there, and start the preparations for moving BeeWeather (kind of scary).  They (ICDSoft) did tell me that they use eNom.com for registering domains (a reseller setup, I guess).  Looking at enom.com it appears that ICDSoft gets a bulk discount as enom.com is a bit higher priced from what I see.

I looked at namecheap.com and it looks to have a good price.  But, to keep things simple and under one roof I think I'll just go with one provider/host.

This is making my head hurt....and I haven't even started moving anything yet.<sigh>

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Offline UpstateWeather.com

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #17 on: February 07, 2018, 11:23:45 AM »
I've had bluehost for about a year or two. Honestly, it works but nothing great. I used MDD Hosting previously which is far superior. Honestly, I wish I was still with them. My wife started a blog and our needs changed so we moved to Bluehost. BUT, I think that was a mistake. MDD

Check out MDD Hosting. I LOVED them and they get really great reviews.

Offline WeatherHost

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #18 on: February 07, 2018, 12:22:42 PM »
I've about decided to go ahead and buy a hosting account,

Do that.  Play around with it a while to get familiar.  Their control panel may be different than others since they tend to write their own stuff.  Try out the FTP, email, etc.


Offline jgillett

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #19 on: February 07, 2018, 01:54:26 PM »
From what I understand you need a hosting account before you can park a domain there.  Being as I've got the 3-4 domain names I need to do something with *before* I move beeweather.com it's kind of a problem...I think.
OK, so apparently I'm in the same dull knife drawer as you are (a frequent happening here!). Are you saying ICD requires one to register all domains with them before they'll give you a hosting account? If true, and if I were looking to have them host my stuff, I'd be out the door in a hurry.

I register all my domains with GoDaddy and park those I'm not using with them as well. My web host is in Utah (obviously ain't Scottsdale where GD is). No problems with that at all.
John
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Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #20 on: February 07, 2018, 02:11:47 PM »
Hi John,

One doesn't have to move your domains over to them to open an account. I had my account with ICDSoft a year before I moved my domains over with them.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2018, 02:13:22 PM by sacreyweather »
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Offline WeatherHost

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #21 on: February 07, 2018, 02:14:53 PM »
Are you saying ICD requires one to register all domains with them before they'll give you a hosting account?

No, not at all.  The opposite I think.  You have to have a hosting account to register a domain.  Once you have that, you can add more.  Or you can just do the hosting and keep the domain(s) elsewhere.


Offline Intheswamp

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #22 on: February 07, 2018, 02:16:30 PM »
^^^

Rather than requiring you to move all the domains to them before opening a hosting account they instead require a hosting account before parking domains...which makes sense 'cause ya gotta have a place for the domains to "park".  The issue I'm running into with Godaddy is that they're getting downright greedy...$20 to renew a domain and park it.  ICDSoft is something like $13...a fair difference.  Hosting is less expensive, also.

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Offline WeatherHost

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #23 on: February 07, 2018, 02:38:21 PM »
^^  And renewals are even less after the first year.

Come to think of it, your first year might be at the discounted rate if I did it under my reseller account.  Not sure.  I haven't done it in so ling I forget the details.

« Last Edit: February 07, 2018, 02:40:56 PM by WeatherHost »

Offline WeatherHost

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Re: Hosting and Domain Registrar Recommendations
« Reply #24 on: February 07, 2018, 02:57:54 PM »
Not looking like I can do it so you can pay for it direct.  They changed some things and have a way to set up a store for it, but I'm not sure what's involved there.