I'm now in the market for a new web hosting service that I'm willing to pay for. I recall a thread some time back (days? weeks?) that mentioned a web hosting service that also provides a domain name registration for free as long as you remain a customer with them using their web hosting service. I'm more shopping for the middle to low price range plans. Could anyone help me out? I have a feel freebies lined up that I want to put up on my own. Thanks, visualkinetics

Attached Link: http://www.netfirms.com/tourchart

This is who I host with. $15/month with 200MB space and 6 gb transfer.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=458643

Here's a link to the thread that I started about a week ago when looking for a new home on the web.. some good suggestions were made.. hope I do this link thing right *s*

Attached Link: http://www.hostonce.com

Here is a link to a web host someone mentioned on another board "I just came across a web hosting site that sounds too good to be true! For $4.95 per month, you get a domain name (or free transfer if you already have one), unlimited web space, unlimited bandwidth, CGI, 10 subdomain names and an incredible number of extras. They have no setup charge but you do have to pay the fee on an anual basis. Here's what they say: The UNIX Unlimited Plan Overview of key features Free Domain Name or Transfer Unlimited Disk Space Unlimited Data Transfer Unlimited POP3 Mailboxes Unlimited Autoresponders Unlimited Email Addresses Create up to 10 sub domains i.e anything.yourdomain.com FREE NEW UNIX Virtual Control Panel Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions FREE CGI Scripting in Perl & C Server Side Includes PHP4 Scripting MySQL Database Server FREE 128 Bit SSL Secure Server Sever Side PGP Encryption WAP Server Password Protected Directories FREE Customised Error Pages FREE Free CGI Scripts (Mail Form, Counter....) 24-hour FTP Access 24-hour Tech Support State Of The Art Data Centre If this is as good as it sounds, wow!! I signed up for it and if it's all that it claims to be, I should be able to provide some web space for showing off your images here on the board for those who don't have a web site. I can also provide space for the various sites that are associated with the board if needed. This will allow me to move all the PIRC stuff off my wishing well domain so I can have that back for me...and all the pirc stuff will then be at pircnet.com. Will let you know how it works out.The fee is annual, you have to pay it all up front. That's not bad though, I think it was $59.40" I don't know anything personally about the webhost but you might want to check them out

Wow. I just read through that site, and can't find any "small print". Sounds too good to be true. Keep us updated!!

The Lady who posted about hostonce is very happy with it, someone else from the board signed up and they too are happy with it. That is all I know lol I use a web host I got through coolpage, when I bought their program, it's around 89.00 a year with domain name, but you need to own coolpage.

Try Affordablehost...very fast, reasonable www.affordablehost.com 30 day money back guarantee, and check them out at Host Search

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll definitely have more to research. By the way Fyrene, there is a whole lot of fine print about www.hostonce.com. Apparently the term "unlimited use" is up to their discretion, as well as no nudity restrictions etc., which is again up to their discretion, so I don't want to risk being canned if I post a piece of artwork with "nude Poser figures". They also only offer Full CGI support, meaning they'll support your scripts, but do not provide their own bin of already made scripts. This is a big problem for me since I'm no CGI guru and must rely on what the web host service offers such as form processing CGI scripts, etc. There's always a catch to free or low cost services. Although the free domain part is really a great deal it seems...

Attached Link: http://www.hostonce.com/terms_conditions.htm

The small print you need to read (see link). First, note they specifically prohibit hosting files for others, so your idea is a bad one pokeydots :( Second, the real kick is the (intentionally) vague restrictions on bandwidth: "UNLIMITED USE POLICY High bandwidth usage: HostOnce.com offers an unlimited use policy by maintaining very large ratios of bandwidth per customer. In rare cases, HostOnce.com may find a customer to be using server resources to such an extent that he or she may jeopardize server performance and resources for other customers. In such instances, HostOnce.com reserves the right to impose the High Resource User Policy for the consideration of all customers. HIGH RESOURCE USER POLICY Resources are defined as bandwidth and/or processor utilization. HostOnce.com may implement the following policy to its sole discretion: When a website is found to be monopolizing the resources available HostOnce.com reserves the right to suspend that site immediately. This policy is only implemented in extreme circumstances and is intended to prevent the misuse of our servers. Customers may be offered an option whereby HostOnce.com continues hosting the website for an additional fee." Hmmmm..."very large" eh? By who's standards? Compared to what? Most likely, they will be gauging your site based on "typical" web sites that have low traffic, are mostly text, and don't really use that much bandwidth. A site that features downloads and images for a community like this one is not going to have "typical" traffic. So, they may suddenly throttle your site and demand more money at some unspecified, in thier "sole discretion" point. Read down the page and you will see that you will get no refunds of prepaid months if you violate these same unspecified and at their whim terms. (NOTE: CPU usage usually does have a more vague limit, but unless you are executing a lot of perl scripts, or poorly designed scripts, this should not be a problem...its the transfer that a graphics site needs to worry about). Their privacy policy leaves a lot to be desired: "HostOnce.com may share customer information with selected partners/third parties, for example, to provide you with information about products which might be of interest to you or to enable you to take advantage of special partner programs. HostOnce.com may also use customer information to provide customers with system information or information about new or upgraded products." Translation: we sell our member lists to spammers. I would not recommend this host for a graphics and download focused web site, or for anyone who prefers their host keep their personal information private. I highly suggest anyone looking for a host seek out and read all terms of use and privacy policies before signing up for a host and giving them money. Dirt cheap hosts should be viewed with extra suspicion, but I've seen plenty of other hosts with terms that are just as bad. Any good host will (among other things) 1. Tell you what the usage limits actually are, provide you with tracking (logs) so you can monitor your usage, and only charge you if you exceed the stated limit, and 2. keep your personal information private and not peddle it out to every ad company they can. A final note: Domain names are cheap cheap cheap. Go to http://www.discountdomainregistry.com/ and get your domain for $15 a year and retain total control over it. You've probably spent a lot more than that for one Poser model. Isn't your domain name worth it? A word of warning: some "free" domain name companies register themselves as administrator. That means they own it, not you. You leave their service, you don't get to take the domain with you. Of course, they may let you buy it from them...

Sorry :( I just quoted what the other lady said about it as a suggestion, like I said I don't use them, I have a site through coolpage. But like you say it is always good to read the fine print, and then judge for your self.

I use www.atfreeweb.com for my site. They only $8.95 per month and do me excellently. I won't go into what they do but take a look at them. For cheap domain registration go to www.godaddy.com, they charge about $9.95 per year for a domain name and the longer you register the cheaper it gets.

Scifiguy, Thanks for the info. One question I have is based on your statement that a good host will "Tell you what the usage limits actually are..." I'm considering a web sight from which I think people will want to access and download many pictures (no, not pornographic in any way, more like a catalog, but not a business). So when I'm shopping for a host how can I predict what I'll need? I'd hate to settle on 2GB transfer and then have to pay more becasue I was wrong. On the other hand I'd hate to purchase too much transfer bandwidth. My second question is how you can get a domain name without going through a hosting service? Doesn't discountdomainregistry ask where you want it to be hosted? And if you go to a host don't you have to tell them what your domain name is? I have heard so many horror stories about hosts "stealing" domains. I would like to get my domain so I'll know I own it and then pick my host.

Attached Link: http://www.jaguarpc.com/hosting.php

DOH! Sorry pokeydots, I misread the last part of your quote as being from you :) No Bam, you don't have to tell them where you are being hosted to buy a domain. You don't even have to have a site to buy a domain. They will point the DNS (domain name server) to their server for now, and it will just give a not found error if someone types it into the addy bar (because its not really pointing anywhere, its just a "holder"). When you get a host, they will tell you what their name servers are, then you just edit your registry account and in a couple of days the update will take and you domain will resolve to your new host. I'm not familiar with godaddy.com, but I'm sure they work the same way. When you sign up with a host, you tell them the domain you've already registered, usually indicating it is a "transfer domain" instead of a "new" one. Sometimes they will have options on the sign up form to specify you will change the DNS yourself, sometimes not. If not, specify it in comments, or email them to verify that you will do it yourself. Its not a problem at all. Determining how much bandwidth you need can be hard for a new site. Large images can use up bandwidth quickly - Renderosity's bandwidth usage must be truly astronomical! 2MB is fairly small. If your site is even fairly popular and graphics heavy you can use that up pretty fast. The best thing to do is find a host with multiple plans and who makes upgrading to the next one as easy as one email. That way, when you need the extra bandwidth you don't have to change hosts to get it. The link is to my host, and they have been very good to me. Their $10/mo plan comes with 6GB of transfer, which is quite high for that price range. Their top (no reseller) plan goes up to 15GB. That's about the top end for bandwidth on a virtual hosting account. If you're using more than that, you probably need some kind of dedicated server. A good place to get fair info on hosts is in the forums at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ Finally, I definitely recommend Unix based hosting and not the security hole ridden, worm target darling of all the script kiddies, Windows the wonder sieve. Hope that's helpful.

Very! thank you

I believe you are referring to my post some time back. I settled on catalog.com as my host. You get your own domain name, no adds, and somewhat limited service for 30 to 35 dollars a YEAR. The limitations are 20MB of disk space and 0.5GB of throughput per month. If those limits are okay by you it's hard to beat this price. Personally I think about $100/year with 50-80 MB of disk space and 1 to 2 GB of throughput a month is the sweet spot, but at the time I could not find such a deal. If I find one by renewal time next year, I'll switch (as long as it's ad free and I get my own domain name). jon

Might also want to check out http://thathostingcompany.com

Attached Link: http://www.drak.net

I use DrakNet :)