An email I sent to our current host

[TheHolo.Net]

Hello.

I wanted to email you and check to see when my billing cycle is coming up again, and also mention that I am considering switching to a different host.

I have recently made some additions to my pages that may require more storage and most likely more monthly bandwidth. Before I make any concrete decisions to switch hosts I wanted to discuss things with OCHosting to see if it would be possible some new arrangements could be made.

Its fairly standard practice that competing companies like to try and match deals and whatnot so that they can retain their customer base. I am pleased with my service at OCHosting, so it is not a matter of my being disgruntled or anything like that.

I have located an offer that I am finding very tempting, which only costs $70 per year more than the package I am getting from OCHosting now, the package can be seen here listed under the Semi-3 column:

http://www.cirtexhosting.com/semidedicated.html

OCHosting was kind enough to make me a deal when I initially moved to their hosting services a year or so ago, and I wanted to see if my UNIX-4000 Semi-dedicated package, currently at $50 per month paid quarterly, could be upgraded in some fashion so as to help retain my patronage/match a competitor.

<table border=0><tr><td width=50%>OCHosting</td><td width=50%>Cirtex</td></tr><tr><td>25GB bandwidth</td><td>90GB bandwidth</td></tr><tr><td>4GB diskspace</td><td>7GB diskspace</td></tr><tr><td>5 subdomains</td><td>unlimited subdomains</td></tr><tr><td>4 mySQL DBs</td><td>unlimited mySQL DBs</td></tr><td>$50/month</td><td>$55.99 per month</td><td></tr></table>

These are the features that differ most and get my attention.

Thanks for your time. Questions are welcome.



Chris

[TheHolo.Net]

The first reply.
Hi Chris:

Just a quick reply to let you know we are working on an answer to your email.
-----------------
Thank You!and the second.
Hi:

The actual comparison price comes out to about $12/month more and you would be getting less.......also, you are taking a chance of moving to poor service and/or support. They are probably using Regulated Bandwidth (we use burstable=faster).

This is Virtual Hosting and it states at bottom : Dedicated IP is $5/mo extra

No 24/7 Phone Support: Cirtex Contact Support
You can contact our technical support via email, aim, msn, icq or yim


cirtexhosting.com in DNS at: 66.90.77.85

You are probably working with a reseller (from New York) as This IP belongs to a host:

OrgName: FDCservers.net LLC
OrgID: FDCSE
Address: 141 West Jackson Blvd, Suite 1135
City: Chicago
StateProv: IL
PostalCode: 60604
Country: US

NetRange: 66.90.64.0 - 66.90.95.255
CIDR: 66.90.64.0/19
NetName: FDCSERVERS
NetHandle: NET-66-90-64-0-1
Parent: NET-66-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS3.FDCSERVERS.NET
NameServer: NS4.FDCSERVERS.NET

We will check with the manager about the costs of moving you up in space and bandwidth. Tell us how you would like to have your package increased.hmmmmm, they make some good points. I have heard that PhotoPost is likely to double our bandwidth. I need to do some research and see if that still leaves us in the ballpark or not. Another 5 or 10 GB may be enough if we even need more. And space I'm not really sure about. The per user allowed size and per file limitations in Photopost can be adjusted to compensate.

[TheHolo.Net]

According to our stats, the highest bandwidth usage for a single month in the last year has been 12.37 GB, that seems to be riding the line awfully closely, if it does double.

[Mortaniuss]

Do you know of anyone who's used Cirtex? I remember that there was a forum specifically for discussing different hosts; Maybe you could look/ask there?

[TheHolo.Net]

I did search the forum for Cirtex and came up empty.

I plan to do more looking around. I suspect if we find a comparable deal at a better price, OCHosting will likely match it.

[TheHolo.Net]

Some quick research into Cirtex Hosting at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ has me very uneasy with moving to their service.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=136760

[TheHolo.Net]

Here is a new serivice offered on a host that has been around for a while. It looks as if the features are quite comparable.

I do see good things said at WHT about their support response times for their other services which have been around for a while.

This may give me the leverage I need, looking into it more closely.

http://www.dedicatednow.com/?pid=vps

the VPS 3 Plan looks pretty sweet.

[TheHolo.Net]

More notes to myself:

http://viperhost.com/index.php?page=fhosting

Is run for vB type sites and their advertised VH-BBS03 plan is nice bandwidth wise but not so nice space wise.

[TheHolo.Net]

I started a topic at the vB support forums in the Hosting forum to get some more input, suggestions, and sales pitches.

I got a PM that has my jaw on the floor:
Hello,

If you are looking for a new hosting plan, feel free to check out: www.hytekhosting.com (http://www.hytekhosting.com)

We can offer you 5GB Storage along with 75GB of Transfer for $35/month.

Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have.

Thank you,

JoshI replied asking a few questions and believe he is replying to them now.

[Mortaniuss]

Cut our hosting costs and get tons of bandwith? Yes please.

If they can guarantee reliable uptime and have decent tech support, I think we have a winnar.

[TheHolo.Net]

Originally posted by Mortaniuss
Cut our hosting costs and get tons of bandwith? Yes please.

If they can guarantee reliable uptime and have decent tech support, I think we have a winnar.
Their support marks at webhosting talk seem to be pretty good. I am now exchanging PMs to try and get some technical details regarding shell access, which I really only need on occasion, domain name transfers, and dedicated IP address.

[TheHolo.Net]

PS. I have also forwarded some of this info on to OCHosting to see their response. It does appear they are interested in keeping us here and if they sweeten the deal enough, we would stay.

[TheHolo.Net]

His answers to all of my questions have been the right ones. If OCHosting doesn't come up with some damn good reasons this option sucks, or match the offer, we will be moving to get more for less $.

Three times the bandwidth and an additional GB of storage space for $14 less a month is just too sweet to ignore, considering I can get shell access, I can use the commands I need to with shell access, domain transfers, unlimited subdomains, and domain parking is completely free. I dread all that goes along with the moving process, but saving that much money for those benefits is just too good to miss.

EDIT: BTW, here is the email I sent to OCHosting
I've been doing some more research today and have come across some more solutions that I find quite tempting. Bandwidth and storage are my primary concerns in the way of additional requirements.

I have made some initial contact with www.hytekhosting.com and they have offered me a special package consisting of 5 GB storage and 75 GB bandwidth for the price of $35 a month. A dedicated IP would cost an additional $1 a month.

From some preliminary research at webhostingtalk.com, their support and reliability seem to get good grades.

I just thought I would pass this on to get your thoughts.

Thanks
Chris

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Sounds excellent.. :) Here's to hoping our current host decides they don't want to lose us and that we don't have to go through the work of moving hosts. :D

[TheHolo.Net]

OCHosting didn't reply, so I take it they aren't interested in sweetening our deal.

I have made some contact with hytekhosting.com and will probably be importing a copy of our DB and files over there for some testing in the next day or two. There is a 30 day MBG, so if their service doesn't cut it we aren't losing any money. :)

3 times the Bandwidth and an additional Gig of storage for $14 less per month is just too good to not try out.

[TheHolo.Net]

I am currently testing out the new host at http://69.56.186.201/index.php

So far the testing looks to be going quite well. PhotoPost now supports uploading gif and png files at the same time. :D

I had some problems with the initial import of the PhotoPost DB, but know what happened and will be re-importing the DB here again later on after I do a little more testing on the new host. Feel free to post there if you want, but don't be surprised if your posts vanish when I re-import the newset DB from here over there.

The DB currently on the new host is from a backup I did yesterday, so some things here won't exist there until I re-import.

[TheHolo.Net]

The link is going to result in DB errors for the next hour or so. I am re-importing another fresher copy of our Database.

EDIT: The site is fully functional now with a database imported from here about two hours ago.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Awesome. :)