i see digitalspace.net hosts 10 MB for only $3/mo. ($36/yr) and they offer a lot of features. Are there anymore webhosts which offer very small packages at a really low price (i.e. $3/mo.) and still offer a lot of features? I'm looking to just have my mail sent there, not for hosting my website. Thanks.
~mioi

Originally posted by mioi
i see digitalspace.net hosts 10 MB for only $3/mo. ($36/yr) and they offer a lot of features. Are there anymore webhosts which offer very small packages at a really low price (i.e. $3/mo.) and still offer a lot of features? I'm looking to just have my mail sent there, not for hosting my website. Thanks.
~mioi

I'm curious, if you are just using the site for e-mail, why do you need a lot of features?

oops, my mistake. I also would like to host a website on there, but not a big website, but i do need a mailing list autoresponders, forwarders, telnet, POP3 & SMTP servers.

~mioi

have you try host directories sutch as http://www.hostsearch.com and http://www.findahost.com

I'm sure you know this, but for the benefit of any new readers - if you pay $3, you will get $3 of service. Your site will be slower loading, you will have reduced support, things will not work as well. Personal sites this may not be an issue, but don't expect to find some great bargain at $3 that nobody else has discovered and will give you as much all round service as a typical $12 host. If you do business on the web, do yourself a favor, listen to the experience here, and expect to pay more.

Again, for this thread it sounds as if you know this and don't mind much.

Um, no offense, but this isn't always true. Our sites don't load slower, that's too general an assumption. Nor do we offer reduced support. We have toll-free lines, a user forum, a web-based help desk, 40+ page tech library, etc. And our entry-level plan costs $5. (Granted, it is 66% more expensive than the $3 plan...) 8)

I will grant you that there are many 'fly-by-night' hosts out there who charge very little and have many problems. But there are also some very good ones as well. Just like with any host, do your research, talk to current customers, look at reviews, do a Deja search. But don't go off dismissing every host that charges less than $x.xx because you might miss a winner.

There are lots of hosts (and many who are regulars here) who offer sub-$10 hosting plans. Doesn't mean they provide a lousy level of service.

Just my $0.02.

I'm sure Marksy wasn't speaking about anyone in particular, just make the general observation that it costs to run a business and at $3/month you'd need a heck of a lot of customers to just cover expenses much less be profitable. Therefore in all probability something somewhere is most likely lacking in the service.

Originally posted by Jaiem
I'm sure Marksy wasn't speaking about anyone in particular, just make the general observation that it costs to run a business and at $3/month you'd need a heck of a lot of customers to just cover expenses much less be profitable. Therefore in all probability something somewhere is most likely lacking in the service.



I agree. By the time you add up disk space cost, bandwidth, credit card processing fees, payroll, and other business costs, $3 per month might break even. There is nothing wrong with giving customers the best deal that you can, but if it comes at the expense of service or support, is it such a good deal? How exactly can you make enough at $3 per account to upgrade servers, hire support staff, advertise, pay taxes, and cover all the other things it takes to run a business?

Absolutely. I agree. But here's a few points:

We use a major server leasing company (starts with "A") and when you add it all up, cost per client (CPC) is somewhere around $2 and change, give or take. So, yes $3 would be barely profitable. But, there are other decent server providers FAR cheaper than the Big A. Therefore you might be able to get a CPC well under $2 or even $1. Depends on costs of course. I suppose leasing a RAQ somewhere could be profitable at $3 a head if done correctly. Or you could sign up with someone who lets you subdivide space as a Reseller.

Many companies offer a low-priced account in an effort to get some people started, with the knowledge that as time passes, a certain percentage will upgrade, need additional services, become Resellers, add E-Commerce, etc. So if you can earn a client at a few bucks, and keep them happy with good service and support, you might just keep a relationship that will be even more profitable later.

That being said, no one is in business to lose $$. So as always, if it looks too good to be true, check it out. Sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised, sometimes you will run screaming...

That wasn't aimed at anyone, but as mentioned, yes there will be a difference in a $3 host and a decent $14 host. You've got to make a profit and something somewhere suffers. In my experience small hosts offering discount rates do provide good service -initially. In order to remain profitable they have to keep selling - at a tremendous rate - and things load up. You can't afford a tech for every 400 new sites at $3 a site, whereas a $14 host can - it's the economics of the business.

There are great low cost hosts and I say this all "in general". I'm not trying to offend, just let new folks or even old ponder what a discount host really means.

Why cant a $3/month service make money? I'm doing it just fine. Of course, we also cap a 3 gig per month limit on these accounts. You see, biggest majority of people dont use much of their space, and rarely hit the bandwidth limit. That means it averages out enough to make a good profit. You have the 10% high hitters versus the 90% low hitters, it averages out to become quite a bit of extra revenue. WorldzonePro has been around less than two months, but since Worldzone itself has been around 3 years, I had a huge network to freely advertise my new service on, hence the tremendous growth. I was able to hit a profit level fairly quickly which means there is not a shortage of revenue with our $3/month server. Of course, I had the advantage and was not just starting out, but the insinuation that you get what you pay for is definitly not true. If you havent learned that about the internet by now, then you havent been paying very close attention.

And I forgot to mention that quite a few of our clients have openly expressed that they have never seen better support in the industry either. I guess it depends on if the host's heart is really into it or not.

[Edited by Webdude on 01-09-2001 at 01:16 PM]

speaking of $3/mo. hosting, check out this company's $3/mo. plan:
http://www.hosthem.net/plans.html
it's hard to believe what they are offering. has anyone hosted with them? the only catch i could find is that they don't give you a static IP.
~mioi

Originally posted by mioi
speaking of $3/mo. hosting, check out this company's $3/mo. plan:
http://www.hosthem.net/plans.html
it's hard to believe what they are offering. has anyone hosted with them? the only catch i could find is that they don't give you a static IP.
~mioi

Do you mean they don't give you a dedicated IP? Because not giving you a static IP is a very big catch :).

Originally posted by uuallan
[QUOTE]
Do you mean they don't give you a dedicated IP? Because not giving you a static IP is a very big catch :).

How is this a big catch unless you need SSL access?

yeah i mean dedicated IP!! well for me, it's a catch, (not a very big one), because I like to use centralinfo.net as my DNS so i can manage my domains the way i like to. And if i want http://www.mydomain.com to point to my site hosted on a server that doesn't give me a DEDICATED IP, then i can't use centralinfo.net. Well, i think that is the case anyway.
~mioi

speaking of $3/mo. hosting, check out this company's $3/mo. plan: http://www.hosthem.net/plans.html

See, that's what I mean. 500MB and the good old 'unlimited transfer'. Not to knock these guys, but c'mon. You could easily fill a server before you hit 20 clients. And that represents gross revenue of $60 a month. Not gonna pay for a server with $60.

This does not mean you can't offer *realistic* plans for low cost. For example only, our $5 plan allows 10MB storage. That is realistic. Giving 500MB for $3 just isn't reality. Let's face it, a lot of us offer basic plans for well less than $14 a month, doesn't mean you can't give good service, and I quote:

You can't afford a tech for every 400 new sites at $3 a site, whereas a $14 host can - it's the economics of the business.

Hard to read that with a straight face as you are prominently offering hosting plans at $8.25. ;) So I guess for you it's a new tech only every 750 sites then? ;)

Granted, it's more than $3 but well short of the $14 you mentioned... speaking generally of course!

DISCLAIMER:
I'm just trying to illustrate a point, not knocking anyone's hosting plans or service. Not to be taken personally. But keep the moral of the story in mind: do your research, and don't disqualify a host because they charge too little - you might save a buck or two and be very happy.

Originally posted by mioi
yeah i mean dedicated IP!! well for me, it's a catch, (not a very big one), because I like to use centralinfo.net as my DNS so i can manage my domains the way i like to. And if i want http://www.mydomain.com to point to my site hosted on a server that doesn't give me a DEDICATED IP, then i can't use centralinfo.net. Well, i think that is the case anyway.
~mioi

This just goes back to getting what you pay for. The hosting company has to pay for the IP's either directly or through higher prices from their upstream provider. Add to that the cost of bandwidth, rack space, and credit card processing and you leave the host with nothing.

If a host has a business plan that will allow them to make a profit at $3 per month, more power to them. I think the majority of the hosts that offer prices this low, or even lower, don't realy take all of this into consideration. They just want to sign up customers and then the money runs out and the close shop.

Rather than looking for the cheepest host you can find, try taking a look at what your site requirements are. Is this just a personal site? If so then it probably doesn't matter about down time or if it takes days for customer support to answer your questions. Is this a business site or a site that will effect you business? If it is what will customers think when your site is down often. Mny time you only get on shot at a customer. If your site is down they just move on to the next site and you will never see them again. Yes, you saved $10 in hosting fees, and lost $100 in sales. Somehow that doesn't add up.

Like I said, take a look at your needs before you take a look at the money. In the long run you will be happier.

Originally posted by UnitedTec
How is this a big catch unless you need SSL access?
[/B]

Well, I'm not a big fan of dynamic DNS or Webhosting through DHCP. A non-static IP address would imply that your IP address is subject to change anytime their AOL connection resets :).

True, but most web sites don't really need the dedicated IP. It's nice to have to give to a customer so that they can start uploading their files as soon as the account is set up, but other than that the vast majority of site do not need them.

Originally posted by UnitedTec
True, but most web sites don't really need the dedicated IP. It's nice to have to give to a customer so that they can start uploading their files as soon as the account is set up, but other than that the vast majority of site do not need them.

Right, again we agree :). But that is IP sharing, not static IPs. There's a big difference...that'll teach me to try a half-baked attempt at sarcasm ;).

You can't point to George Burns and say - look smoking must not be bad! There will be exceptions, I've said that, anyone want to argue that "in general" it isn't as good fine but to point out singular cases you feel prove a point isn't really beneficial.

and yes I'll argue that smoking is bad for you as well.

<<Admin edit : sorry Chris, your dissection of your plans was too borderline to be considered advertising...>>

All great points. One more thing to add and that's there are more costs to running a hosting business than just what you pay for the services you're selling. Call them administrative expenses, operating expenses or whatever but it's not just you pay $x-per server or gig so anything above that, even just $1, is profit.

No biggie, just brought up the plans as they were specifically mentioned before, I understand though.

Thanks Chris. You can still try to dissect your profit plans in a 'third-person' way if you like (without referring to yourself if at all possible!), and we'll try to be nice :D

nah, point is made, no use to belabor it..I should have done it 3rd person in the first place, my bad. Thanks BC.