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I'm going to be purchasing a domain name and server package in the next few days, but I'm not really sure what size server package I'm going to use, can anyone recommend a size for a first site?
3000mb 10000mb or 25000mb,
Something tells me the smallest one 3000mb will do fine, but I'm just worried about running out of space halfway through the 12 months...
Thanks Wikiwirral!

What's the site for & how much does each option cost?

Its going to be for a gaming community,
The 3000mb is 90p/m (But is free for the first year)
10000mb is £1.90/m (£22.80/y)
25000mb is £3.60/m (£43.20/y)

Each Of These + £9 Set Up Fee,
and + £6 for the domain name per year,

Thanks For The Quick Reply,

So you're going to have forums and articles and stuff presumably? The prices are all pretty good, I'd go for the 10gb one and just upgrade as necessary. Guess you could get the 3gb one for now and host your images and whatnot offsite. You run the risk of slow picture loading though since you're dependant on an external site.

Check the bandwidth limitations for each package as well, those 'bandwidth exceeded' messages that haunt startup sites that do well really suck.

Welcome for the replies, Could be we're the only 2 still awake )

Ask what is involved in upgrading to the New larger package.
There could be hidden admin charges or physically moving your data.

Dont forget to include your uploads as part of your Bandwidth Calculations.

Unlimited Bandwidth,

No such thing, anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you; and believe me, I know something about it.

www.one.com - Says unlimited traffic, and tech support says same?

It's a lie; they will have limitations on all users somehow. Just like mobile phone companies with "unlimited web" and then a FUP of 500MB? So how is it unlimited lol.

Companies that claim to offer it, will usually suspend users when they feel they have used enough, or have strict CPU and other resource limitations, to help prevent them from being able to use too much. If the technology does not exist, they can't actually provide it, can they. And regardless of who you are, even if your name is Mr. Cogentco, each MB of data transfer, would still cost you something - and sooner or later, a customer using a high amount of data transfer, would satart costing you more money than you are taking off them.

Check it includes all the required server software/support for whatever you are using it for. Eg MySQL, PHP etc.

I've used Compila for many years, good pricing for low web space but can't match those for higher space.

Compila say "Unmetered Bandwidth" and "no hidden fees" and in my experience they have stuck to that.

This part of their terms and conditions, gives them the right to effectively suspend your site or bill you for overage whenever they feel you have used too much transfer:



Hence its far easier to go with a company that quite simply offers you an amount rather than unlimited, where they decide when you have used too much (though you have to watch for companies offering absurd amounts of transfer - keep in mind 1Mbps of transit can cost from $4 - $24 dependent on the quality/tier/redundancy of the carriers in the mix and infrastructure so if someone is offering 3000MB of transit per month for a few quid, thats around 10Mbps of dedicated bandwidth, so that could be costing the company as high as £150 per month at the 95th).

There is room for manouvre thanks to the ability to oversell, which in theory and even in practice, does work to an extent, but if it looks far too good to be true...

I hardly think his startup gaming community is going to hog enough bandwidth to screw with the other sites hosted on whatever server he's using.

That may be true, but why go with a provider who can essentially kick you off whenever they feel like it; if they offer unlimited/unmetered transfer, they should be happy and capable to provide just that.

They obviously know their cut-off point, at which it starts to become a problem/unviable for them (im talking bandwidth/data transfer alone here, not server resources), so it would be better for them to simply state a limit in the first place. It all boils down to honesty and being up front with the customer. If you draw the line at x, state it, that way both parties know exactly where they stand.

For a startup gaimg community, obviously it depends on any existing userbase etc, but something as low as 200MB - 500MB with as little as 3GB data transfer would probably serve you just fine.

Forums themselves use very little webspace or transfer; the problems start when you offer extra's such as image uploading, and become troublesome if you offer other forums of media uploading such as music and and video. One of my customers use over 400GB per month on their forum, just through the use of images - the forum itself is a relatively small community, but the images are large in filesize, and tend to get shared about a lot around the web.

Drop Mark a PM, he might be able to help you as wiki have their own server.