Canadian web hosting

[AlexWeldon]

My current web host - BlueFur.com - is terrible... I think there must be a lot of spam going out through their SMTP or something, because in the past couple of months, more and more mails have been bouncing back from recipients, saying their mail servers have refused them "due to the sending MTA's poor reputation." My first inquiry to tech support got them to put out a whitelist request, which fixed the problem briefly, but when the problem recurred and I contacted them again, I just got an email saying that they'd passed my report on to "a level 2 technician," and since then, silence. I sent them another email a few days ago and got no response.

Now, Gmail is refusing my emails, which is really the last straw. Time to change hosts, for sure.

So, this time, I'm going to do my homework before picking a host. Can anyone recommend a good web hosting service? Preferably Canadian, but it doesn't have to be, as long as they can host both .COM and .CA domains (I own www.benefactum.ca and www.cryptopixel.com).

[PoV]

I use hostgator. Not Canadian, not the cheapest, but reliable for my needs.

Also you're probably better off with a website hosted in the US, since the majority of the English speaking market is there. We're only an insignificant chunk of it.

[amaranth]

After several horrid web hosting companies, I found Nexcess two years ago. They have shared hosting, dedicated hosting, awesome customer service and dirt-cheap prices. They aren't in Canada, but they are near the border!

Whenever I have a problem, they usually fix it within an hour. When I release a game, they give me an extra server to handle the bandwidth until downloads drop. They also have a bunch of tech guys on staff, so if you run across a web programming issue, you can ask them to fix it for you. With your server, you get a few hours each month of service like this, so it's great.

http://www.nexcess.net/

[Spore Man]

Does it have to be Canadian?

www.canadawebhosting.com (dedicated only)

www.synergywebservices.ca (shared, virtual private servers, etc)

[indy]

using http://www.dreamhost.com been very happy with them and they also provide free svn

[ionside]

I use sherweb.com . They're in Quebec.

Been with them for some years now, they have good tech support.

[AlexWeldon]

Thanks, everyone. I'll check 'em all out. Amaranth's praise for Nexcess is the most glowing, so just based on that, I'm leaning towards them, but I'll look at all the websites tomorrow and choose then.

[Indinera]

Amanda, are you using the max VPS plan with them?

[Qitsune]

I used to be with http://www.azhosting.com/ I liked them a lot. I only switched because I was offered a few years of free hosting elsewhere (which is hard to refuse when elsewhere has good service as well.)
They are in Quebec as well.

[AlexWeldon]

I used to be with http://www.azhosting.com/ I liked them a lot. I only switched because I was offered a few years of free hosting elsewhere (which is hard to refuse when elsewhere has good service as well.)
They are in Quebec as well.

Not nearly enough storage space... their affordable packages only give you a few megabytes of disk space. I don't need gigs and gigs, but I'm hosting my Flash games on my site, plus some clients prefer that I put graphic assets up on my site for them to download, rather than emailing them... so I'll need at least 100 MB, and their prices really aren't competitive in that range.

Thanks anyway, though. I'm leaning towards Nexcess. They've got 5 GB storage (which is nexcessive, lol) for $6.95 a month... assuming their customer service is as good as Amaranth says, that's a good price.

[Thomas@BMT]

Check out www.siteground.com - they've got a special going for $3.95 month.

I've used them for a few years for a personal, non-BMT related site and they've been great. Unlimited web space and bandwidth, etc.

I've only had to contact support one time and had a reply in minutes.

[Roman Budzowski]

Thanks anyway, though. I'm leaning towards Nexcess. They've got 5 GB storage (which is nexcessive, lol) for $6.95 a month... assuming their customer service is as good as Amaranth says, that's a good price.

Yeah, but for $6.95 you get just 15GB or bandwidth. That's just 512 downloads of 30MB game. That's not enough.

I use www.webfaction.com. Not sure if they are good enough when you get a spike of traffic (they say they are), but there is a lot of bandwidth and storage space (I use Shared 2).

http://www.webfaction.com/services/hosting

Roman

[Indinera]

That's not enough.

That's why I asked my question to Amanda. It does not seem enough for her as well.

[Maupin]

I use www.webfaction.com. Not sure if they are good enough when you get a spike of traffic (they say they are), but there is a lot of bandwidth and storage space (I use Shared 2).

Another vote for Webfaction. My affiliate portal Game Socks is on their shared 2 plan as well. And I get a ton of traffic. Almost enough (but not quite yet) to need a dedicated server, and Webfaction handles it fine on a shared server. It's like night and day compared to hosts like Godaddy and Dream Host (which I also use for my smaller sites).

I was so impressed with Webfaction that I have a second account for side projects that require server-side logic.

[Jack Norton]

With the amount of traffic Amanda has, I really think she got a dedicated server!

Those aren't even much expensive indeed:
http://www.eliterax.com/servers/dedicated-economy.php

[AlexWeldon]

I should be lucky to have such problems. I make little Flash games that are just a few megs, and at the moment, I'm only using maybe 2-3 gigs of traffic a month.

Maybe I'll just shell out for three months of their cheapest package, as I'll be releasing Oliver & the Basilisks soon, and though I don't expect it to be a huge success, since assuming from the start that it will be an epic failure might not be the best strategy.

The 3-1 ratio of bandwidth to storage is pretty funny, though... it's a pretty sad site that only has the average piece of content viewed three times a month, including by its own creator.

EDIT: But, looking at WebFaction, 10 GB storage and 600 GB bandwidth for $102/yr. is a much better deal. Hmm.

[barrygamer]

Am finally looking into web hosting. Webfaction looks interesting, and to a non-expert their services/website actually makes sense. And, all these recommendations from you guys!
They're in UK I think, but the data centres are in the US - are they 'just' an affiliate of a bigger company?

[Maupin]

No, they're their own company. I think they have their own affiliate program, however. They won't disappoint you. 60 day money back guarantee, even.

[ragdollsoft]

If it's just an email problem you might also use google apps for your domain to handle your mail, should fix your blacklisting issue ( except for the mail sent from your website forms)

[AlexWeldon]

If it's just an email problem you might also use google apps for your domain to handle your mail, should fix your blacklisting issue ( except for the mail sent from your website forms)

No, they're inept in general... every year when my site needs to be renewed, there's some problem... my previous credit card expired and I forgot to give them the new one, or they switched my account to not automatically renew because that happened the previous year, or, whatever. But every time, instead of giving me some grace period and contacting me to tell me there's a problem so I can give them the new credit card info, they simply take my site offline, and leave it to me to figure out why it's happened, and get in touch with them to fix it.

And there's also been some kind of problem with security tokens lately, interferes with letting me see my hit stats, etc. Who knows.

Definitely time to change, just have to decide who I'm going to try next.