Ve used LittleOak.Net for a number of years and couldn’t be happier.
Correct, however it’s good to have a host that knows and uses RapidWeaver, as they can help out should you ever run into publishing issues 
Cheers
Dan
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Just using RW + stacks. No Wordpress. Keep in mind the parameters were narrowed by stipulating that it all initially worked as expected.
As far as I can imagine the only variable is the server.
When this happens, and it has happened to me, I would prefer not to use a host that tells me they can’t figure it out because I am using RW or one that I have to type out a record of the issue and wait for a response which usually involves NUMEROUS back and forth emails, before the issue is addressed. I want to just fix it and get back to my life. I want to get on the phone, explain the issue with them looking at their back end, and fix it in realtime.
Somehow this does not seem unreasonable to me.
These two together requirements (Phone support & someone that “knows” RapidWeaver) appear to be mutually exclusive. I don’t know of any hosting company that offers both.
I think you are going to have to make the choice between a hosting company that’s familiar with RapidWeaver like Chillidog or Macdock, but doesn’t offer things like phone support or even 24/7 chat support or a company like DreamHost, A2 Hosting, and all the others that do offer those levels of support.
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The counter point I am making is the issue is that some host use their unfamiliarity with RW as a cop out for not even working on the problem.
Note that there was a slight drift from what I proposed and what you are responding to. 
I don’t understand the “drift” you are referring to.
You’ll find that there aren’t more than a couple of hosting companies that really know RapidWeaver. It is a great product but has a minuscule number of websites in relationship to the entire Internet.
You said “I want to get on the phone, explain the issue with them looking at their back end, and fix it in real time” and you want “a hosting service that is friendly to Rapidweaver and Macs”.
As you can see from the replies, you will not find both phone support and RapidWeaver knowledge.
You’re going to need to pick what is more important to you.
- A host that knows RapidWeaver but will require you to submit a ticket, and go back and forth to get to a resolution.
- A host that provides 24/7 phone or chat support but probably has zero experience with RapidWeaver.
To me, having knowledge of RW isn’t important from a hosting company. If RW has publishing issues, it’s pretty simple to publish to a local folder and use a standalone FTP app like Transmit or FileZilla. If I can’t publish to a local folder, then it’s not a hosting company issue. It’s all on RapidWeaver.
If publishing with the standalone FTP app doesn’t work, then the hosting company tech support should be able to get it figured out pretty quick. That’s assuming that they have 24/7 real time support in place, otherwise you still would have to submit a ticket and wait.
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^ What he said. Which is what I’ve said, but a more elaborate answer which hopefully makes it clearer.
You only need search for “Rapidweaver Hosting” and quite a few come up:
https://www.greengeeks.com/rapidweaver-hosting
But guess what? They are just standard hosting plans. Much the same as the fact that you can host a Wordpress site on any old plan, even if it’s not called “Wordpress Hosting”. Fastcomet has even called theirs “Managed RapidWeaver Hosting” – it isn’t. I guess you could try to hold any of these accountable given they’ve advertised RW, but what will happen is, if there’s a RW issue you’ll be referred to Realmac or a stack dev.
Also this one has been mentioned, a Realmac partner:
Again though, I have no doubt they will refer you back to RW devs if there’s an issue.
There are so many moving parts with this you will never get what you’re asking for. Being “ping-ponged” from one tech support to another is pretty standard 
Exactly. Depending upon the client, I currently have sites with several different providers including A2, DreamHost and (gasp!) GoDaddy and Dotster. I’ve had issues with all four providers of one sort or another over the past couple of years. Surprisingly, GoDaddy has had the best telephone support; A2 and DreamHost both have outstanding email support; DreamHost has great texting support; and Dotster is in a class by itself (lacking in support, in my experience, which is why we moved our domains and hosting from them to DreamHost). Nobody - as in not once, has asked what my sites have been built with. They might have asked how I’m pushing my email forms (PHPMailer or SMTP server) but they have not been concerned about the compiler of the code.
All that said, when I was comparing providers, I was most concerned about reliability (uptime/downtime), speed, amount of storage (with dozens of clients, storage can quickly be used up), sufficient email (with dozens of websites, email addresses go quickly), unlimited bandwidth, and support.
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Pardon me for saying this… but if 24/7, 365, text and phone support are needed, look for another host. 99.9% uptime matters the most. If your hosting company is down so much that this level of service is required, look elsewhere. Seriously! Chillidog is up nearly nonstop, at least 99.9%. What do you need support for if it just doesn’t go down. 
If you are looking for someone to help you be a better webmaster, the hosting company is the wrong place to look. Look at RW or the communities within the RW world. If you are hiring talent and they blame the host all the time you hired the wrong webmaster. 
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Yes and report/triage bugs if any prop up
As well as all the reasons folks have mentioned already, I’d say that the migration facility chillidog offers is brilliant. Completely error-free.
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I’m in the UK and I’ve been using WebMate (formerly MacAce) for several years. They’ve proved excellent - they always answer queries and technical problems within a few hours.
I have been with Hostmonster for at least 10 years. I had issues with a contact form working once… the Hostmonster service fixed it in 2 minutes. I also used them to move a site from another server to my HM account. They did it all very quickly.
My point is I have had enough interaction with their technical support over the years. I have always been pleased. I am not saying anything about any other company. It is invaluable for me to be able to pick up the phone and get help. They have never even hinted at charging me any money for this individual support. I am a bit perplexed by why the fact that my files are generated by Rapidweaver as opposed to any other program.
I started with A2 Hosting (a2hosting.com) a decade ago at the recommendation of my previous site builder (Sandvox) and have been very happy with them. I think the phone support is 24/7… at least I’ve never called during closed hours. And they’ve been really patient walking me through a few hairy ordeals that were not their fault (registrar issues and such). And the price is reasonable… it’s something like $140/year for unlimited websites and email addresses. Their only limit for what I’m paying is a total file limit of 600,000, of which I’ve consumed about 25% in a decade.
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@Custard-Apple the first example you listed (A2 Hosting) is the one I use, because of the recommendation of my previous site-builder Sandvox. And while I’ve had very few RW publishing issues, the 24/7 tech people have resolved every one, so I’m happy. Just FWIW.
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Yep – A2 for sure. Fast response time, fast servers, and pricing which the smaller guys can’t compete with. I didn’t look back when I switched over to them…
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