I need to find the cheapest web hosting provider that meets my specifications.

I require the following:
1) at least 100 megabytes of storage space
2) at least 1 gigabyte of transfer per month
3) 24/7 customer service and support by phone 
4) free domain name registration would be nice
5) however, I must be able to own my own domain name
6) they must have multiple connections to the internet
7) a promise of at least 99.5% uptime
8) finally, they must be reputable.  If they have testimonials on
their site, each one should have a working link to the website of the
individual because, by definition these happy customers should all
have real web sites.  Any indications you can give me that the
provider is trustworthy would be appreciated.  I find it very hard to
trust free providers.

The most I am willing to pay per month is $6 dollars, so exclude any
providers that charge more than that.

What I am looking for is a short list of possible options to choose
from.  They should each be accompanied by a breif description (i.e.
price, space, transfer, features, evidence of reputability etc), and
should be ranked according to the degree to which (in your opinion)
they meet or exceed my specifications.

Also, any evidence you can provide to support the fact that the
providers you list are really the best available would be appreciated
also.

I will tip up to $20 dollars for an excellent answer.

drallanhoj-ga,
I believe I have found exactly what you are looking for, along with a
few others that may interest you. I have compiled possible web hosts
into a convenient list format. If you are not satisfied, or want even
more choices, feel free to ask for clarification. Just as a side note,
probably the most difficult part of your question was finding the 24/7
phone support due to the amount of resources a company must devote to
maintaining such a system.

OLM.net (http://olm.net/)
-------------------------
Plan: E-100 (http://olm.net/whmag/hosting_e_specials.html)
Price/Month: $5.95
Space: 100 MB
Transfer/Month: 2 GB
Domain: $19.95
Features: Perl, PHP, Python, SSI, SSL, Frontpage, unlimited emails and more
Do not be fooled by the simple webpage, this is a powerful webhost
with hundreds of thosands of customers. I myself have used their
hosting services for almost 2 years now and have never experienced any
trouble. They have received glowing reviews and testimonies, some of
which can be seen at http://www.webhostsonline.com/Reviews/O/olm4227/,
http://www.webhostingratings.com/plans/OLM-Respond-2678.html.
http://www.olm.com/company-info/testimonials.html.
However, their domain name registration is slighly more expensive.
Thus, I recommend that you go to http://www.dynonames.com/ to register
your domain, then transfer it to OLM.

ICDSoft (http://www.icdsoft.com)
--------------------------------
Plan: 333 Personal (http://www.icdsoft.com/hosting.php)
Price/Month: $5.00
Space: 333 MB
Transfer/Month: 5 GB
Domain: $5.00
Features: Perl, PHP, SSI, Python, Ruby, TCL, MySQL database, unlimited
email accounts and more
If you are willing to forgo 24/7 phone support and are willing to
settle for within the hour, generally within 15-30 minute support,
then ICDSoft is definitely for you. It is also a well established
companies with hundreds of users with positive things to say about it
(http://www.webhostingratings.com/plans/ICDSoft-Reviews.html). The
provide both more space and bandwidth the OLM.net.

I most recommend either OLM.net or ICDSoft if you can live without
24/7 phone support. Others you might want to consider are:

Amray Web Hosting (http://www.amrayhosting.com)
-----------------------------------------------
Plan: Sparkling Geyser (https://www.amrayhosting.com/sparklinggeyser.html)
Price/Month: $5.00
Space: 500 MB
Transfer/Month: 30 GB
Domain: $12.99
Features: Perl, SSL, 5 POP3/IMAP and FTP accounts and more
In terms of sheer bandwidth, nothing beats Amray with 30GB/month.
There is a setup fee of $20, but that can be waived.  They also offer
within the hours support, and from user testimonies, it seems that on
average, they are much faster than that. Once again, I suggest finding
an alternative company to purchase a domain name from. Excellent
reviews of this host can be found at
http://www.hostchart.com/show_reviews.asp.

IX Webhosting (http://www.ixwebhosting.com/)
--------------------------------------------
Plan: Economy (http://www.ixwebhosting.com/pg.info.dspProductEconomyPlan)
Price/Month: $4.95
Space: 500 MB
Transfer/Month: 5 GB
Domain: Free
Features: Perl, PHP, SSI, Frontpage, 1000 POP3/IMAP and FTP accounts and more
If you need even more space, IX Webhosting provides 500MB for an even
cheaper monthly fee. However, they require a $20 setup fee which can
be waived if you sign on for a 2 year plan. They feature 24/7 Live
Chat, and support is guaranteed within the hour. They also offer to
credit your account if for any reason they fail to provide support
within the hour. (http://www.ixwebhosting.com/pg.info.dspPriceFreeze1HrSupport).
TheHostingChart.com even rated it #1, with a score of 97%
(http://www.thehostingchart.com/ourreview1.html)

CX Webhosting (http://cxwebhosting.com/)
----------------------------------------
Plan: Gold (http://cxwebhosting.com/plan1.html)
Price/Month: $5.00
Space: 1000 MB
Transfer/Month: 20 GB
Domain: Free
Features: Perl, PHP, SSI, Frontpage, 1000 POP3/IMAP, FTP account, SSH,
MIVA and more
For sheer volume of storage, nothing beats CX Webhosting with 1 GB.
Another excellent site
(http://www.webhostingchoice.com/directory/cxwebhostingcom.shtml) with
24/7 support.

You may have seen http://www.bigbluehost.com/, http://slacktech.com/
and http://www.dot5hosting.com/ when you searched the net yourself.
These companies are not reliable, as many users have reported.
(http://www.webhostingchoice.com/directory/dot5hosting-reviews.shtml)

I hope these help.

tox-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by drallanhoj-ga on 15 Jun 2004 09:14 PDT

Well, I agree that OLM seems like a reputable provider with a pretty
good deal.  However some of the other sites you listed offer deals
that would be too good to refuse, if there weren't hidden strings
attached...  I have found it very difficult to find information on the
reputability of hosting companies.  There are lots of sites out there
that claim to be impartial reviewers of hosting companies, such as the
ones you cited: thehostingchart.com and hostchart.com
I have always hesitated to trust these kinds of sites because they
never have real "about us" information and they never explain how they
can afford to run their "independant" site without any adds.  So I did
a WHO IS search on the two sites above to see who owns the domains:
thehostingchart.com is registered to someone named Proxied Site Domain
Services (proxy@proxiedsite.com) and hostchart.com is registered to
someone whose email address is @hostbuzz.com which turns out to be a
promotions site for webhosting companies.

The reason I really want a company that promises 24/7 support is that,
just as you said, they have to be able to devote considerable
resources to that service, and thus, it shows that they do actually
have "considerable resources" and aren't just a fly-by-night company. 
However, if there is indeed a company that is very reputable and
offers an excellent deal but does not have 24/7 support, I would be
willing to consider them.

Before I rate your answer, I wanted to give you a chance to get me
some believeable info on the reputability (or disreputability as the
case may be) of some of these companies that offer great plans for
$5/month.

And one other qustion, have you ever called OLM's support number? and
if so, about how long was the wait?

Thanks

---

Clarification of Answer by tox-ga on 15 Jun 2004 11:30 PDT

drallanhoj-ga,

As I mentioned above, I have been with OLM for quite some time now. Of
the three or four times I called them regarding some questions I had,
I was connected with somebody pretty much right away.  The longest
wait I've experienced was only about a minute or two.

CNET, a very reputable source of technology reviews recommends OLM
over other companies
(http://gizmodo-cnet.com.com/4520-6540_7-726572-3.html?tag=arrow) and
features it as a web host
(http://www.cnet.com/4520-7396-5073522.html). Their service also
passes NetMechanic's server reliability test at 99.8%+
(http://gizmodo-cnet.com.com/4520-6540_7-726572.html) and qualifies as
a CNET Gold Performer
(http://gizmodo-cnet.com.com/4520-6540_7-726572-2.html?tag=arrow,
Their basic hosting plan also recieved excellent reviews
(http://gizmodo-cnet.com.com/4520-6540-726572-7.html?tag=st.mig.3799-8-19873928-6.arrow.3799-8-19873928-7).
Many users have also been extremely satisfied with OLM's service
(http://support.discusware.com/forum/messages/305/2519.html). And as I
mentioned before, they also have a much larger user-base (over 325000)
than most other budget hosting companies.

ICDSoft has received an overwhelmingly positive response on
webhostingrating (http://www.webhostingratings.com/plans/ICDSoft-Reviews.html),
not by the reviewers but 300+ customers. While it is concievable that
20 or maybe even 100 entries are fabricated, there is no reason to
generate that many reviews. I also looked through about 100 of the
reviews in the middle and near the end and found them all to be
unique. These seem to be from genuinely satisfied customers.  They are
also fairly large, with 45000 customers
(http://www.icdsoft.com/news.php). Most of the budget hosting
companies that exist (I even checked the ones on my list I passed
over) have only customer testimonials and message board posts to back
them up (example: http://www.webhostingtoolbox.com/details/25/46/).

Of all of them, OLM definitely has the greatest amount of "reputable"
credibility.  I would suggest you go with them.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask for clarifications.

Cheers,
tox-ga

Thanks, I will go with OLM.  I assume that after further investigation
you have decided that the three other companies were infact
disreputable; I find this conclusion easy to believe.

This was a hard question and, in retrospect, I should have given it a
higher list price, but you did a great job anyway.

Thanks again

This is all done and I'm sure you've already signed up, but I really
like www.hasweb.com. Cheap, friendly, always helpful and very little
downtime.

I took a look at http://www.dot5hosting.com/  and your correct they
seem to provide poor support but I have actually heard good things
about http://www.bigbluehost.com  They seem to have thier own servers
and provide great prices 1.2 gb space for under $8.  They have a
ticket system and forum support.  The real test is not to contact the
host directly and see how fast they reply.  Read some reviews to get
an idea but never go on what someone tells you the true test is asking
the host questions until they are blue in the face, if they mind in
the pre sales stage they will really mind when you have an issue.

I've been with ICDSoft(http://www.icdsoft.com) for quite a long time
now, and must say that I'm not going to move elsewhere soon. If you
need uptime, top notch support and low budget they are the one to go
with. If you need to grow up you can use their brand new Business plan
offering. And indeed there are quite good reviews out there about them
(http://www.besthostratings.com/plans/icdsoft.html,
http://www.webhostingunleashed.com/reviews.php?web_host_name=ICDSoft_Web_Hosting)
As far as I know they manage two Data Centers - one in Hong Kong, and
another in USA(Boston,MA). While HK data center is a little slower for
US customers, it goes well for all Asia and Australia. In the same
time US is blazingly fast. I can tell this from my own experience as
in the beginning my site was hosted in HK, then I request to be moved
to USA and was gladly surprised by the speed change.
Just my 5 cents.