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There's More To Hosting Than High Bandwidth/Diskspace For Little $$$

Curtis H.

Curtis H.

New Member
Hosting: More Than High Bandwidth/Diskspace For Little $$$

A comment was made in a thread (I think it's gone now) about a "host" offering a plan that was "outdated" by today's standards. This same person most likely does not offer have the level of service or equipment that those offering plans that are "outdated" in some people's opinions.

I guess this would be an example of "outdated" plans and price structure?

www.PowerSurge.net

Brochure Plan
Monthly: $9.99
Annual accounts only pay $8.50/mo
20mb Disk Space
5GB Bandwidth
5 POP3 accounts
1 FTP Account

Enterprise Plan

Monthly: $69.99
Annual accounts only pay $59.50/mo
1GB Disk Space
25GB Bandwidth
Unlimited POP3
Unlimited FTP

Other Red Hat Linux Plans

Now, does anyone think Powersurge's plans are nuts and "outdated?" Do any hosts on these forums operate a company even remotely close to Powersurge and agree that their plans are priced to high? Isn't there more to hosting than offering cheap plans with high bandwidth and disk space?
 
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Threre is "more to hosting than offering cheap plans with high bandwidth and disk space". The only deal is that a majority of people don't care about much else, and they like their money more than the other things associated with hosting.

You could always go to a host that has something like a paid support team with literally 24/7 support (there really are hardly any places with this...mostly it's just used now to say "we have good support". Sure you can ask questions 24/7, but just because you can do that doesn't mean that the customer will get support 24/7) or tons of other services that require the prices to go up.

But I think the main reason is that there really isn't too much of a difference between lots of space and bandwidth for cheap, and some space and bandwidth for more with a few extras. Oh well...
 
PowerSurge is the same as FastServers.

I am sure they are targetting on the dedicated servers more than virtual web hosting.
I also believe they putting high price on the virtual web hosting to contrast their price on dedicated servers.

Regards,
 
When it comes down to it, people do pay those prices for hosting.

I can remember ringing around my local area to check out the competition - one person wanted $120 per year for a .com - and they would get it too.

It's all about promotion, publicity, and the company's target audience. I'm sure business' would pay that without even faultering or looking sidewards.
 
I think each person seeking web hosting has different goals. For some people its more cost effective to seek out hosts that offer more for less. Other people decide where to host there site based on provider reputation regardless of price. Either way if people make smart decisions when searching for web hosting they can avoid being ripped off.
 
While FastServers.net is owned by PowerSurge.net, I don't think they have higher priced virtual plans to help justify their server prices. Powersurege was never one to offer cheap plans. They targeted a certain type of client (other than script kiddies which can cause lots of problems) and provide true 24/7 support and have top quality hardware and certified technicians at their disposal. They also own their own NOC. This cost money and as mentioned, people are willing to pay for it.

I feel there is a need for cheaper hosting solutions. There is also a need for bargain hosting providers, especially for non mission critical sites and those who may be on a tight budget.

But as Powersurge proves, you do get what you pay for and should you need dependable, professional hosting, you will have to pay for it. They obviously have created a business plan that works quite well. You can't call that "outdated."
 
The problem is that with so many zero overhead cost hosts coming into the market who can afford to make 50c per customer per month it make sit very difficult for established hosts to compete.

Established hosts are usually playing the long game and aiming for stability of service. Therefore they will not overload servers (because overloaded servers require massive maintenance time and that costs lots of money). They don't want customers leaving so they invest in more reliable systems and use more expensive connectivity and data centres.
This reduces support costs and reduces customer churn making a stable business.

However, the customer never sees any of this. To be honest, they are not interested.

They see "BoBo's Web Hosting" offering the same thing for half the cost and they change host.
Then BoBo (I hope there is not a BoBo's web hosting) gets lots of customers, but BoBo can't afford to take on any staff because his profits are too low.
Then BoBo gets a tax bill.
Oops.
BoBo is out of business.

Higher prices are not a rip off.
For an established company to have staff on 24/7 call costs serious amounts of money.
We have to pay staff reasonable salaries to retain them.
We have to give them paid leave.
We have a company pension scheme and pay contributions to that.
These things are necessary to recruit and retain staff.

We have to set aside cash as part of our tax planning so we can pay our taxes when they are due.
We need to pay lawyers and accountants to keep us on the right side of the law and deal with legal disputes (common in the hosting business).
We pay massive amounts of money in business insurance to protect us from litigation.
These things are necessary to run a stable, reliable business.


When the Rackshack craze first started we lost a large number of customers to cheaper hosts.
My attitude was "if you can't beat them join them" so I set up a seperate brand using equivalent cheap leased servers. This has worked to some extent in that we recruit just about as many budget clients as we lose to budget services. However, the budget craze is now starting to breach our main brand with customers leaving in higher numbers again because of price.

We need to wait and see what happens, but there is no way I am going to sacrifice reliability for price.

Anyone can run a service on one server with 200 customers for a short period of time.
It takes a lot more to run a large web hosting business for many years.
 
It's pretty simple some people will pay peanuts and expect a quality service then complain when they don't get it.

It's hard to get across that $1 per month for 20GB transfer is a good price - NOT, something has to suffer.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I find it funny that many of the hosts or resellers on this forum who gladly post or paste cheap offers have little to add to this discussion.
 
The bizzare thing is that if I look at customers who are moving to 2000MB for $7.95 per month, the account they have with us is using 50MB and we charge them about the same.

Weird.
 
As a random note:

If I were a consumer, and wanted hosting with my current knowledge:

I would be signing up to a low-end resource plan (50mb space, 3gb transfer) for around $10-20 per month with a competitor I'm aware of at the moment, whom offer great support and reliability (this is someone whom called me when I asked clarification on their service).

Really, I can easily spend $5 on breakfast per day alone. What's a 50 cents per day for dead reliable hosting with great support?
 
Strider44 said:
its called ignorance, just like the people who go into a store thinking that the most expensive must be the best
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I wouldn't call it ignorance. I'd call it a lack of knowledge.

People still pay $35/year for domains with Network Solutions when they can goto godaddy and get them less than 1/4th of that price. People just don't know, or they are comfortable and happy with their experience.

I pay extra for things everyday just to know that I'm not going to waste my money in the cheap stuff. It's just another way of investing your money. oldman2
 
I was going with the other way of using it:

"A willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge which one may acquire and it is his duty to have."
 
Well see, I bought paper chairs for 99 cents a piece at a flea shop once, thought they would be just as good as the wooden ones...foolish me.
 
VerticalHost said:
I was going with the other way of using it:

"A willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge which one may acquire and it is his duty to have."
Click to expand...
oooo.. touché.
 
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