Need opinions on Web Hosting providers after MobileMe closes

teacher24_70

I've been hosting my Rapidweaver on MobileMe for the last couple of years. However, since it closes down at the end of June, I'm in search of a new hosting provider.

My plan is to finally purchase a domain name (probably through Hover) and then set up the site under a new provider. After doing some research via the web, I found a few sites that rank and review web hosts.

At this point, I've found several that appear to be highly ranked. Can anyone give me any personal feedback or opinions about any of those named. Obviously, compatibility with RapidWeaver is important, but most hosts don't specify anything about RapidWeaver except for one.

I mainly use the basic features of RapidWeaver, but some of the hosts also provide access to things like forums, etc. that I may be interested in in the future.

FatCow
http://www.fatcow.com/fatcow/special-promo.bml?offer=OPI&LinkName=No_Name

1&1
http://www.hosting-review.com/hosting-directory/go2/1and1home-may2012.html

Siteground
http://www.siteground.com/web-hosting.htm
This is the one that specifically mentions Mac and RapidWeaver compatibility:
http://www.siteground.com/mac_hosting_features.htm
http://www.siteground.com/rapidweaver-hosting.htm

iPage
http://www.ipage.com/hosting-features

tsilva

They all offer pretty much the same thing but the devil is in the details. Example, watch out for offers of 'unlimited bandwidth' but the fine print talks about 'constraints' or something similar. Be wary of teaser rates only to have them jacked up after a few months. Apache, cPanel, ftp, and current php standards are a must. Also good 24/7 online support is critical.

goinup

Hi-

A few comments that might help you choose your next host:

1. Those RW specific pages are really made for SEO rankings. You will also see these pages linked to specific Google Searches with Ads at the top of the page. This, in all honesty, doesn't mean the host knows how to use RapidWeaver or can give you RW specific support.

2. PHP restrictions are a nuisance. Often you will find that hosts limit your use of PHP functions and libraries which make it difficult to do anything. For instance, a common one is that the max upload file size for contact forms is fixed at 8MB. This means no one can send you anything over 8MB and that's that. Nothing you can do about it.

These are just two of the reasons why I started Javabean Hosting. If you (or anyone else for that matter) would like help getting your sites migrated over, please let me know. I am happy to help. If you have any further questions or need any advice, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks
Greg

mitchellm

I'll second and third that JavaBean hosting rocks! Great service, very reliable, very fast.

fred108

Not in your list, but I've been very pleased with

http://www.inmotionhosting.com/

Will Woodgate

+1 for Javabean Hosting.

I would not be so keen in recommending 1&1, NamesCo or GoDaddy.

Colorwave

I'm a very happy BlueHost customer, with quite a few sites hosted by them. I have had stellar support from them, which I can not say about some previous hosting companies. I think their reseller accounts are an excellent deal, too, if you have more than a couple of sites that you handle.

Aaron Marquez

Out of all of the hosts mentioned, and for that matter period, I would recommend JavaBean. It's a no-brainer, plus it supports RapidWeaver natively. Here are a few good reasons, from my experience to use JavaBean:

- Stellar customer support
Greg spent hours after hours helping me with a issue I was experiencing, and didn't stop until it was solved. You could look at my Twitter account and see the multiple times hes asked if every was okay with my move to JavaBean. Greg is a person that cares for his product and stands by it with stellar support

- RapidWeaver Plugin
It natively supports RapidWeaver and it even has a RapidWeaver plugin, just for the JavaBean hosting account that you have!

- Efficient
My site loads at least 5x faster than it did. The cPanel works blazing fast.

Compared to Bluehost (which I've used for years), JavaBean passes the mark by leaps and bounds. BlueHost has one of the slowest and clunkiest cPanels ever, and that cannot be said about JavaBean's cPanel.

If you want the most efficient, RapidWeaver friendly, with awesome customer support to back it up, I'd go to JavaBean.

If you don't care about the above, then choose another host cause you want get it like you would with JB!

I don't have any affiliation with JB btw, just a very pleased customer.

David DelMonte

I am a very happy Bluehost customer. I've been with them for 5 years after moving all my sites from GoDaddy. A couple of things to note whomever you choose.

1. Check their links to the net. A number of companies basically piggy-back on the services of others.

2. Bluehost, and presumably others have the possibility to have one account, and to have ALL of your sites hosted under this one account. So you pay $6-8 per month - for all of your sites. Some other vendors require a separate hosting account for each site. Make sure with this combined account, you can still see you site as a unique url, for example : www.example.com, and not www.example.myaccount.com.

Hope this helps.

David

Aaron Marquez

I think someone is trying to earn some affilate link money.

Geoffrey

I vote for BlueHost too. I was at JustHost who must be one of the worst hosting providers out there. Don't go there whatever you do.

BlueHost's service has been faultless for me and their support is first class too. BTW I'm not an affiliate!

JezzerP

Make sure whatever host you choose are running vanilla Apache as their web server software, rather than an Apache clone. I had this problem with NamesCo, and this was one of the major barriers to good RW compatibility. I have recently opened a reseller account with HeartInternet, and can not fault the service so far.

teacher24_70

Once I decide on a new host, is the process as simple as just republishing to the new service? RapidWeaver will keep all pages connected but with the new domain, correct?

Colorwave

Co-rect. Any relative links should remain the same. URL based ones as well, as long as the folder structure remains the same, and you make sure that any assets you might have linked to that aren't published by RW (non-resource images, in other words) are on your new server. If you keep things the same in the root of your server, the only difference will be the DNS that visitors browsers are pointed to.

Will Woodgate

To avoid downtime, it should be possible to publish your website to the new host using an IP address provided by the new host. That way you can setup and test everything to ensure the site works and all links are functioning.

When everything is ready, then you can change the name servers, to redirect traffic from the old website to the new one. It typically takes about 24 - 48 hours for name server changes to take effect. After that, all traffic will flow through to the new website and the old one can be safely closed and deleted.

BruCe1957

@teacher24_70
I have my sites on bluehost.com Pro, 1 main domain + 4 add-on domains. Unlimited bandwith, Space, domains.
With other host companies the cost is higher or the multi is not possible
I always got a good support.
Never encountered problems with RW

4Foot

I recently set up a hosting account for a client with DVHost ( http://www.dvhost.com/ ) and had an excellent experience.

I think the price is great for multiple sites and users on their Pro account and they were prompt and extremely helpful when my IT guy threw some issues into the situation regarding Domain pointing.

I would use them again in a heartbeat.

I did have an awful experience with 1&1 and their penchant for making it hard to leave their service. Their billing department seems to have learned their trade at AOL. So I would recommend staying away from them.

4Foot