UKWebs — Fri, 07 May 1999 23:18:00 +0000

We use Rackspace
http://www.rackspace.com

They have been a breath of fresh air for us. All they do is provide colocation services so they know their business and our experience with them has been excellent.

Their prices are not rock-bottom, but they are competitive, and their staff and support have only been good to us.

They have given us the confidence (with their product) to branch out into the hosting world. With them and our expertise and experience we hope we've put together a package that lets us compete in the UK market at close to US prices.

To be honest (if I may!), we don't like the idea of supporting tens of thousands of domains. To us that just means you have less support personnel available per domain. It doesn't seem to be a selling point at all.

We want to give each customer a personal service and honest support. It's what we were looking for and found lacking in so many hosts that we tried.

That's why I'd agree with you that recommendations are the best way to find a host, though as always, each persons mileage may vary.

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Regards,
Jonathan Michaelson
UKWebs Hosting, Design and Scripts
http://www.ukwebs.com

JP Stones — Fri, 07 May 1999 22:37:00 +0000

Now that is interesting.
What company looks after the hardware?
Does this enable you to have cheaper rates than other UK hosts?
JP

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UKWebs — Fri, 07 May 1999 21:21:00 +0000

Hello,

Just to add to this topic as the question is regarding UK hosting companies. We posted earlier about our recommendations based on our experience searching for hosts being based in the UK.

What we have done since that time is set up our own hosting company. We decided that the only way to satisfy our requirements is to provide it ourselves.

Perhaps interestingly, we colocate our hardware in the US (we're not resellers) primarily due to connectivity speeds. We are colocated right next to a major Internet hub ensuring fast reliable network connections - something that seems to elude the UK Internet.

So, are we a UK Host? Part of the whole ethos of the Net is that it breaks down geographical boundaries. Our business is physically based in the UK. Our staff are based in the UK. Our hardware is in the best location that we believe possible for fast access to the Internet.

Just something to think about.

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Regards,
Jonathan Michaelson
UKWebs
http://www.ukwebs.com

[This message has been edited by UKWebs (edited May 07, 1999).]

Portugalmail — Sat, 01 May 1999 00:54:00 +0000

Anti,

How can a provider block your domain?
Isn't the domain yours to use as you please?

Just got extremely curious
Manuel

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______________________________
Visit us: portugalmail.pt
E-mail me: mcosta@portugalmail.pt

JP Stones — Tue, 23 Mar 1999 17:43:00 +0000

Anti,
Doesn't this change of domain .de to .nu play havoc with your promotion efforts?
JP

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anti — Mon, 22 Mar 1999 20:09:00 +0000

Hi,

I just wanted to give my 2 cents about the location discussion.

I used a german provider for over one year simply because I believed the speed story.

My old provider hat a 522Mbit-Connection to the german backbone. My new provider has a 34Mbit-Connection in Nevada/USA.
Both are equally fast. I tried it via several german ISPs and I really couldn't figure out any difference.

The only difference is: I pay less and the support is much better.

ciao
Anti
http://webhome.nu/

ps:
some may have noticed that I use webhome.nu instead of webhome.de. that's simply because my old (german) provider has blocked _my_ .de-domain

myriad(uk) — Sun, 21 Mar 1999 02:00:00 +0000

Thanks for all the replies to my question.

After searching long & hard and looking at the pro's & con's I decided to go with a
US Host for exactly the same reasons as the
ones above. ( I think that the speed issue is
over played)

I'm currently hosting with VIRTUALSCAPE and
so far there technical help has been very
quick and easy to understand - it is early day's though. For the price of 15-20MB in the
UK I got 100MB in the US with support for CF
& a few other extra's.

I agree that until UK Host's change there
pricing structure and the services that they
offer they will continue to loose business to
US Host's.

p.s. Forums such as these are great for people like me that still have a lot to learn
without the help from this and other forums I
would still be completely in the dark. THANKS.

Curtis Stevens — Fri, 19 Mar 1999 19:02:00 +0000

Hi!

Thanks for the info. There are many web hosting companies that are so big, that their customer support is not that great. But then size doesn't matter. I have heard of other companies that don't give the service or is slow at support too, even though they are small.

I would talk with past customers of the company BEFORE buying anything. The people that have already purchased the service, already know everything about it. This is the best, and most secure way to purchase something.

HTH

Curtis

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Sincerely,
Curtis Stevens
Simple Solutions

Web hosting made simple!
>> http://www.1simple.com

UKWebs — Fri, 19 Mar 1999 18:04:00 +0000

Hello,

We looked long and hard for a UK hosting company as well, and ended up with US hosting companies. We've had plenty of problems, but we wouldn't say they're related to the location of the hosting company - more to do with level of support. Many of the US companies are so big that we get the feeling each client is just a drop in the ocean to them.

One thing we'd recommend - get personal recommendations of a hosting company you're considering. Don't go just on the basis of their advertising or web site. Many of them look good, but don't have the support or service to back up their advertised claims.

Until UK companies can match the service, features and prices offered by US companies, we don't see any advantage to insisting that our physical server is located in the UK.

Regards,
Sarah Trayser
www.ukwebs.com

JP Stones — Mon, 01 Mar 1999 02:27:00 +0000

Steve,
I feel compeled to answer this question, as being from the UK, I was once in a similar position.
I thought about using a UK based company but in the end opted for a US company - CommuniTech.net.
I opted for this simply because the range of features offered by CT was far supperior than any UK company.
For more information see my favourite webhosts at:
http://www.what-next.com/doyou_website.html .
If you need any more help, feel free to ask.
Thanks
JP

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