With hosting, as with most things, you get what you pay for. If you pay $7 per month, you are going to get $7 worth of service. That being said, if you only need $7 worth of service, this is a good buy. The key here is knowing what you need.
Shared Hosting:
Shared hosting is just what it sounds like. Your website shares a hosting server with many other websites. This option is extremely affordable and there are hundreds of competitors vying for your $15 (or so) a month. Is it right for you? If you are hosting your family’s photos or blog, yes. If you have a very small company or start-up that needs a simple web presence without advanced functionality, yes. Otherwise, the answer is almost always no. Shared hosting is not a good option if security, reliability, and advanced functionality are important to you. The major disadvantage of shared hosting is that there are multiple users who all have various levels of access making it highly susceptible to breaches in security and crashing.
Dedicated Hosting:
Dedicated hosting is having a hosting server dedicated to only your website. This option is more expensive. However, it is far more reliable, offers greater security, and allows for advanced functionality like database driven queries.
Co-Located Hosting:
Co-Located Hosting is what we offer here at Rearview. This option provides you with the security of dedicated hosting with even greater security and more control over your server. This is often used as a means of “backing up” on-site hosting. It works like this: you purchase a server at cost (or you bring us one you already have), we set it up with your website, ftp, email, PBX phone service (or whatever you want on it), then we put it on our fiber optic connection. Our IT staff will provide fee based support as needed. If you decide to take your hosting in-house (or decide you don’t like us for whatever reason) we’ll be sad, but there is no contract to break. You just stop by our office and pick up your box. Easy, just like we like it.
If you want to know more about Rearview’s hosting package and IT support, please contact Alex Danaila at 678.574.7261 ext. 2101.
